
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 


CIpi|t. Cojnjrir*fjt Ifn. 

Shelf-B.S.57 1 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



























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COMPANION CHARACTERS 


A SERIES OF STUDIES 


IN 


BIBLE BIOGRAPHY. 


“He began to send them forth by two and two.” — Mark. 



U 

PASTOR OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 



NEW YORK: 

ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY, 

900 Broadway, cor. 20th Street. 


I 



COPYRIGHT, 1883, BY 
ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & CO. 


JTEW YORK: 


EDWARD O. JENKINS, 
Printer and Stereotyper. 
20 North William St. 


ROBERT RUTTER, 
Binder , 

116 & 118 E. 141E St. 


CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, CINCINNATI, O., 


FOR WHOM ALM6ST ALL THESE DISCOURSES WERE FIRST PREPARED, 


AND AMONG WHOM IT WAS MY JOY TO MINISTER FOR MANY YEARS, 

THIS VOLUME 
is 

AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED, 


IN TENDER MEMORY OF THE DEAD, AND WITH UNABATED 

LOVE FOR THE LIVING. 

























% 







PREFACE. 


This volume owes its existence to the author’s belief 
that there was yet an unoccupied field in Scripture 
Biography, the character of which is sufficiently defined 
in the title. The inspired writers so frequently portray 
human characters in pairs, that this feature of the gen- 
eral subject has seemed worthy of all the emphasis laid 
upon it in this series of studies. It will be seen that 
these lectures were originally written for the pulpit ; 
and this fact will account for the general structure of 
the discourses, and the treatment of the various topics. 
Four-fifths of the characters here studied are from the 
Old Testament; while of this larger portion one-half 
are from the books of Moses. It is the writer’s hope 
and belief that this fact will not, even in this day of 
destructive criticism, make their examination any less 
interesting or instructive to the great majority of readers. 

These lectures were first written during the busiest 
period of a busy pastorate. After ten years they have 
been entirely re-written and prepared for the press dur- 
ing a season of providential retirement and comparative 


vi 


Preface. 


leisure, while awaiting, in beautiful Santa Barbara, the 
returning health of a beloved invalid. 

In the hope that what is here written may help, guide, 
and comfort the reader, the writer commends his book 
to the Divine favor. If it shall be found honoring God, 
and edifying His people, it will have accomplished the 
highest ambition of 

THE AUTHOR. 

San Francisco, Cal., April \ 1883. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


I. 

Cain and Abel, 





• 

• 

9 

II. 

Jacob and Esau, 






• 

30 

III. 

Moses and Aaron, . 







5 o 

IV. 

Balak and Balaam, 







74 

V. 

Caleb and Joshua, . 







97 

VI. 

Orpah and Ruth, . 







1 16 

VII. 

Samuel and Saul, . 







136 

VIII. 

David and Jonathan, 







156 

IX. 

Elijah and Elisha, 







171 

X. 

Jehoiada and Joash, 







189 

XI. 

Haman and Mordecai, 







205 

XII. 

Ezra and Nehemiah, 







226 

XIII. 

Peter and John, 



• 




247 

XIV. 

Martha and Mary, . 



• 

• 



260 

XV. 

Paul and Barnabas, 


• 

• 

• 

• 


278 







COMPANION CHARACTERS. 


I. 


CAIN AND ABEL. 



HESE two familiar names stand at the beginning 


of two great lines of human character and con- 


duct — the godly and the ungodly, the righteous and the 
wicked. They may be taken as the representative char- 
acters of all, in every age, who serve God, and of those 
who serve Him not. The two diverse yet parallel gen- 
erations speedily take on the prominent features by 
which they have been distinguished throughout all time. 
It is a notable characteristic of the one line, that, even 
in the beginning, they “ began to call upon the name of 
the Lord,” or, as the margin reads, “ call themselves by 
the name of Jehovah.” Either reading leads us to the 
same judgment respecting the character of this part of 
the human family. They were a praying people. They 
lived on the earth, and among their fellow-men ; but 
they maintained communion with God, their Creator 
and Father, in the exercises of worship. They belonged 
to “ the true Israel ” long before there was any “ Israel 
according to the flesh.” 

The other line were essentially worldly in their char- 
acter and aims. They had too much to do with temporal 


i 


( 9 ) 


10 


Companion Characters. 


things to care a great deal for the unseen and the spirit- 
ual. It is worthy of thoughtful attention that the brief 
record which notes the one fact of the children of Seth, 
that they worshiped Jehovah, mentions these things of 
the descendants of Cain — that they built cities, and in- 
vented many of the mechanic arts, while they also culti- 
vated the fine-arts and the habits of a luxurious and sen- 
sual life. It is not meant, of course, that all the Seth- 
ites were the servants of God, or that all the Cainites 
were irreligious, and much less that true religion then, 
any more than it is now, was opposed to the cultivation 
of aesthetic tastes. The fact is simply noted that, to the 
line of Adam’s children, the prevailing characteristic of 
which was ungodliness, we are indebted for these things, 
which belong emphatically to “ this present world.” 
Among them we find the first architects and artificers in 
brass and iron. Among them were the first poets, mu- 
sicians, and warriors. And the fact that they were 
already effeminate and voluptuous, is rendered probable 
by the suggestive names which are to be met with in 
their genealogies. 

We know of but three women, besides the “ mother 
of us all,” who lived before the flood. These were 
Adah, Zillah, and Naamah. Now, when we remember 
that all names were significant of something in those 
early times, we can find out something perhaps, though 
it may be only a hint, of the character of the people 
from the names by which they were known. These 
three names, says a recent writer,* “ indicate that the 


* Rev. Samuel Cox, in The Sunday Magazine , 1869, p. 158. 


Cain and Abel. 


ii 


original and noble conception of woman, as the help- 
meet of the man, was being rapidly superseded by that 
voluptuous and degrading view which has ever since 
prevailed in the East. For each of these names em- 
phasizes that which is merely superficial and sensuous, 
that which kindles desire. Adah is 1 the beautiful one ’ 
or ‘ the ornament Zillah means ‘ shadow/ and em- 
bodies an allusion to that shade from the fierce heat, 
which is so welcome to those who have to abide the 
smitings of an oriental sun ; and Naamah is the 4 sweet, 
or lovely one they are pleasant toys, and little more. 
The pure and noble ideal of the true woman, the true 
wife, must have been very remote from the thought of 
those who bestowed such names upon their women.” 

Whatever value we may attach to the inference of this 
writer from such names, it is certain that not a little can 
be learned of the hopes and disappointments of our first 
parents from the names of their immediate children. 
For example, there seems to be no doubt that Eve re- 
garded her first-born as the promised Messiah, “ the seed 
of the woman which should bruise the serpent’s head,” 
and so she called him “ Cain,” saying, in the extrava- 
gance of her expectation, “ I have gotten a man — 
Jehovah.” Her disappointment was very great. Many 
Jewish mothers, looking for Messiah before His time, 
were probably disappointed in like manner. Through 
the entire history we meet with names that would seem 
to have been given by fond parents in the hope that 
some one of those who bore them might prove to be the 
“ King in Zion.” But, alas ! too often Messiah proved 
a murderer, as in the beginning. Eve soon discovered 


12 


Companion Characters. 


her mistake, and her disappointment comes out in the 
name of her second son. She called him “ Abel,” which 
signifies “ a vanishing vapor.” The pendulum of her 
spirits had swung to the other extreme. One more 
vibration, and it shall come to rest. Unduly elated at 
first, and then unduly depressed, in her third son she 
comes to a sober expectation, and calls him “ Seth,” 
which means “ established.” 

It is in Cain and Abel, — “the man Jehovah,” and 
“ the vanishing vapor,” as their mother called them, — 
that we are just now specially interested. The record 
of their lives is very brief, but very suggestive. One 
scene only in these lives is dwelt upon by the inspired 
penman. But one may see a great deal in a single pict- 
ure ; and this one is full of striking lights and shadows. 
A careful examination of it will throw a vast deal of 
light upon the characters of these two earliest children 
of men. One of the most important things revealed in 
such an examination is — 

I . — The Contrast between True and False Worship. 

Cain was a tiller of the ground, and Abel was a keeper 
of sheep. “In process of time,” literally, “At the end 
of days,” — at the end of the year perhaps, or more prob- 
ably at the end of seven days, on the weekly Sabbath, 
the two brothers came before God to worship. Where 
they worshiped we are not told. It is a probable suppo- 
sition, but only a supposition, that man’s first altar was 
before “the cherubim and flaming sword which turned 
every way to keep the way of the tree of life,” as God 
had appointed. It would seem as if this were the most 


Cain and Abel. 


13 


fitting place for the worship of fallen man, returning to 
God, and craving, as he has always done, some visible 
token of the Divine Presence. This was probably em- 
phatically that “presence of the Lord,” from which 
afterward Cain went out into the land of banishment. 

Into this sacred presence the worshiping brothers 
brought their offerings. Cain brought of the fruits 
of the ground, and Abel of the firstlings of his flock. 
The offering of the latter was accepted — how we are 
not informed. We know that afterward the Divine 
acceptance was signified by the descent of fire from 
God to consume the sacrifice. This was notably the 
case with the offerings at the consecration of Aaron 
as the high-priest of Israel, — “And there came a fire out 
from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar 
the burnt-offering and the fat : which when all the peo- 
ple saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.” Thus, 
also, was Gideon’s sacrifice accepted, when “ there rose 
up fire out of the rock and consumed the flesh and the 
unleavened cakes.” So, too, in the solemn dedication 
of the temple, the Divine favor was vouchsafed in the 
same way ; — “ When Solomon had made an end of pray- 
ing, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the 
burnt-offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the 
Lord filled the house.” It was no uncommon thing, 
therefore, for God to signify His acceptance of the offer- 
ings of His people by the descent of fire. And if the 
conjecture be well founded that the place of worship 
was before the flaming cherubim, it is not unlikely that 
God’s approval here was manifested in a similar way. 
The fire of God consumed the bloody offering of Abel 


14 


Companion Characters. 


but left untouched the fruits of the ground which Cain 
had brought to the altar. How like this primitive scene 
is that notable one three thousand years adown the his- 
tory, when on Mt. Carmel the heavenly fire descended 
upon the lone prophet’s sacrifice, while the offering of 
Baal’s servants remained still unconsumed, amidst their 
agonizing cries for help from their so-called “ god of 
fire.” 

In whatever way it was done, the fact stands forth 
upon this primitive record that one offering was rejected, 
while the other was received. Why was Abel’s sacrifice 
accepted, and not Cain’s ? In the proper answer to this 
question lies the very marrow and essence of the Gospel 
of the grace of God. Both offerings had that one element 
of true worship, which, though coupled with a promise, 
many of us are prone to overlook — the “ honoring of 
the Lord with our substance, and with the first-fruits of 
all our increase, that so our barns may be filled with 
plenty, and our presses burst forth with new wine.” 
But still one was accepted, and the other was rejected, 
by the righteous Judge of all the earth, who always does 
right. There must have been, then, a difference between 
the worshipers, or their offerings. Which was it ? The 
only sufficient answer is, Both. Their offerings differed 
because they differed. 

The Apostle says (Heb. xi. 4), “ By faith Abel offered 
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which 
he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testify- 
ing of his gifts.” Plainly, then, the brothers differed in 
spirit. Cain had no faith, while Abel had. But faith in 
what? Cain evidently possessed some sort of faith. He 


Cain and Abel. 


i5 


clearly believed in the existence of God. Just as plainly 
he believed in the reasonableness of Divine worship. 
And it is just as clear that Abel’s faith, including these 
features, must have comprehended more. What more ? 
And how much more ? 

We must bear in mind that God had already revealed 
the promise of deliverance from the power of sin and 
death through a Saviour. There is good ground for 
believing that He had also given some information as 
to the method of that deliverance in the atoning death, 
by the institution of animal sacrifices. The Divine ori- 
gin of sacrifices, it is true, is questioned by some learned 
men. But it would seem difficult for one, who accepts 
the Christian revelation, to believe that a rite, so signifi- 
cant and so mysterious, could have originated in any 
other way than by God’s appointment. Animal food 
was not permitted until after the flood ; and yet, by 
Divine arrangement, the fallen pair were clothed with 
animal skins. In the light of the subsequent history, it 
seems all but certain that these were taken from their 
sacrifices. 

Then if we contrast the offerings of these two broth- 
ers, it has been well said,* “ In themselves, rationally 
and aesthetically, Cain’s was the more beautiful offering 
— productions of the ground, flowers, and fruits : a sim- 
ple, sweet, beautiful expression of thankfulness and wor- 
ship to the Producer of life. On the other hand, the 
offering made by Abel was contradictory of all h priori 


* Dr. C. F. Deems in The Homiletical Monthly , November, 1881 
P- 87. 


1 6 Companion Characters. 

reasoning on what would be acceptable to God. That 
the God of all goodness, who maintained in life and 
propagated a race that had rebelled against Him, had 
surrounded them with so many things of beauty and of 
comfort, and had continued intercourse with them, in- 
structing them in the ways of religion and in the meth- 
ods of moral development — that this God would be 
pleased by the taking of a simple little lamb from out 
the folds and cutting its throat, and shedding its blood, 
would not enter into the mind of any rational man, not 
to say any good man.” 

Still further, if we look a little more closely into the 
record of these contrasted offerings, we shall find some 
light thrown upon the character of Abel’s sacrifice. This 
will be even more clear if we compare the language here 
used with that of the ceremonial law, long afterward 
established by Divine appointment among the Jewish 
people. Abel, we are told, brought of the firstlings of 
his flock*, “and of the fat thereof.” This last additional 
expression is a very suggestive one under the circum- 
stances. Let us compare this with the language of the 
law, as subsequently given to Israel. God says, by the 
mouth of Moses, “And the'priest shall burn them upon 
the altar : it is the food of the offering made by fire, for 
a sweet savor. All the fat is the Lord’s. It shall be a 
perpetual statute for your generations, throughout all 
your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.” This 
language is just as peculiar as the words of the earlier 
record of these contrasted offerings. And this special 
reservation of the “ fat,” as “ the food of the offering,” 
is in the law connected with other distinctive ceremo- 


Cain and Abel. 


l 7 


nies — such as the confession of sin with hands upon the 
head of the victim, and the sprinkling of the blood of 
the sacrifice upon the altar and the worshiper. And the 
whole service pointed forward to the blood-shedding of 
Calvary. If, now, as is commonly supposed, the Law- 
giver of Israel be the author of Genesis, his use of this 
peculiar expression seems to intimate that the younger 
brother came into the Divine presence, with humble 
confession of sin, and faith in the blood of atonement. 

And it was pre-eminently Abel’s faith in this revela- 
tion of a coming Saviour, that made him to differ from 
Cain. The offerings differed, not, as at first thought we 
might suppose, because their occupations differed, but 
because they differed. The one came penitent and be- 
lieving. Faith is a belief in the Divine testimony. Such 
was Abel’s. His was evidently faith in a Saviour to 
come, typified by his animal sacrifice, the blood pointing 
to the great atonement, and the covering of skin to the 
perfect robe of righteousness. 

The other came in his self-righteousness. Cain was 
the forerunner and representative of those who, feeling 
no need of pardon, never plead the atoning blood ; and, 
resting in mistaken notions of the Divine goodness, 
make all worship to consist in the acknowledgment of 
the bounties of God’s providence. And so he was re- 
jected. We shall yet see that the truth underlying this 
rejection has an important bearing upon ourselves, in 
all our approaches to God. For the present, we turn 
to another part of the scene, and consider 


i8 


Companion Characters. 


II . — The Divine Remonstrance. 

The rejected worshiper was dissatisfied with the result 
of this day’s approach to God. And God mercifully con- 
descends to reason with him about it. “ If thou doest 
well, shalt thou not be accepted ? and if thou doest not 
well, sin lieth at the door.” The words, which describe 
the effect on Cain’s mind of his rejection, are very forci- 
ble. They imply that he was bitterly angry, and cha- 
grined and mortified beyond measure, full of hatred of 
God, as well as of envy of his brother Abel. It was 
probably the first rejection of offered worship ; and the 
surprise of it only intensified Cain’s every evil passion. 
So God remonstrates with him, in all tenderness and 
fidelity, showing him that he was himself in the wrong, 
and had only himself to blame for his rejected and un- 
consumed offering. 

A little further examination of the narrative will bring 
out an unlooked-for plainness, and even severity, in this 
remonstrance. Cain was a self-righteous worshiper. He 
came before God with no sense of sin. He did not feel 
that he had any need of any expiation. He stood upon 
his own merits. And God dealt with him accordingly. 
The first part of this remonstrance seems to address 
him in this way, viz. : ‘ You look for Divine acceptance 
upon the ground of your doing. That is all right. Do 
well, and you shall be accepted.’ We recognize the 
resemblance of this interview, up to this point, to that 
of Christ with the young ruler. The young man came 
saying, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And 
the Lord answered him, as God here answered Cain, 


Cain and Abel. • 


19 


‘ You seek life and favor by doing. Do, and live : You 
know the commandments ; keep them, and you shall 
find favor.’ We shall make a great mistake, however, 
if we suppose that either interview countenances the 
idea that salvation is possible to a fallen man in this 
way of doing. In both cases, God places this way be- 
fore self-righteous men, that, by a complete trial and 
an absolute and positive failure, they may come to rest 
in the righteousness of another, and be satisfied to be 
saved in the way of God’s gracious appointment. 

But, in Cain’s case, the remonstrance now takes on a 
severer aspect. “ And if thou doest not well, sin lieth 
at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and 
thou shalt rule over him.” 

There are two interpretations of this passage. Ac- 
cording to one, the term “sin” means a “sin-offering” 
— analogous to that passage in which the Apostle says 
Christ’s second coming shall be “ without sin,” i. e., “ a 
sin-offering,” as many scholars think it should be read. 
Then the remonstrance amounts to this, viz.: ‘You 
look for acceptance by doing. All right. Do well, and 
you shall have it. But if you do not well — if you sin — 
there is but one way of safety open to you. A sin-offer- 
ing is just at hand — at your door. Come with it, a peni- 
tent and believing sinner, trusting in the atoning blood ; 
and you also shall be accepted. So coming, you shall 
be restored to your rightful place as the elder brother ; 
and unto you shall be your brother’s desire, and you 
shall rule over him.’ 

The other interpretation turns largely upon the exact 
meaning of the expression, “ Sin lieth at the door.” 


20 


Companion Characters. 


Cain was a self-willed and arrogant man. And now he 
is filled with a sullen and vindictive spirit. A plain and 
solemn warning, against the impending crisis in his rela- 
tions to his brother, is loudly demanded ; and God gives 
it. Seeking to impress the morose man, now under the 
dominance of wrathful feelings, with the deadly proxim- 
ity, and cruel and crafty nature of the danger before 
him, He likens sin to some wild beast, that, with sway- 
ing tail and flashing eyes, crouches in his path, ready to 
spring and devour him with another step. So He says, 
as some scholars read the words, “ If thou doest not 
well,” beware ! “ sin is a croucher at the door, and 
against thee is his desire ” (the croucher’s desire), “ and 
thou shouldst rule over him.” The intensely vivid char- 
acter of the admonition is apparent. We may well sup- 
pose it would have startled the guilty man, if anything 
could have aroused him to a sense of his danger. 

The question now comes up, What does the last clause 
mean ? Is it an exhortation, or a prediction ? Does it 
signify, ‘You should overcome it,’ or, ‘Thou shalt be- 
come an adept in it, making use of it as a master uses 
his slave — as a wicked man uses his knowledge of wicked 
arts’ ? It is impossible for us to answer these questions. 
And an answer is immaterial. The warning is a solemn 
one in either case. If we take it as an exhortation, then 
a faithful God points Cain to the crouching, blood-thirsty 
animal, waiting outside ; and urges him to gird himself 
to overcome and slay the monster. If we take it as a 
prediction, then Jehovah, still a faithful God, paints the 
proud sinner’s direful doom, as, stepping to the door, 
he mounts the waiting demon, and drives him headlong 


Cain and Abel. 


21 


into the overwhelming gulf of woe ; while ever there 
sounds in his heedless ears the warning Divine, — Beware ! 
Beware ! The warning was unheeded. Deaf alike to 
the proffer of life, by a gracious way, and to a warning 
almost terrible in its vividness and faithfulness, the guilty 
man left the Divine presence, bending to his downward 
way. Soon the first dreadful murder is committed, and 
the voice of Abel’s blood cries out to God against his 
cruel brother. 

One other topic is furnished by this primitive tragedy. 

III . — The Arraignment and Sentence of Cain. 

Once more Jehovah comes to speak with the guilty 
man. But He comes no more with tender and faithful 
remonstrance. The day of opportunity is gone. The 
terrible progress of evil has met with no arrest. Self- 
righteousness, pride, displeasure, envy, jealousy, anger, 
hardness of heart, stiffness of neck, rage, and murder, — 
these are the awful steps by which the first-born son of 
Adam climbs down the way of sin and shame. “ Sin, 
when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” 

And now the omniscient God comes forth to make 
inquisition for blood. Jehovah sits now upon the judg- 
ment-seat ; and the criminal is arraigned for sentence. 
How startling and significant the few brief words that 
open this judicial quest, — “ Where is Abel, thy brother ? ” 
How much they imply as to the conduct of the guilty 
man ! Who can tell the drift of that last conversation 
between the brothers in the field ? Only this we know : 
it ended in hot words on the part of the elder, and then 
in the deadly blow. The direful deed was soon done. 


22 


Companion Characters. 


And then the murderer fled. Even he could not abide 
in the presence of the dead. The first lifeless form in 
human mould his eyes had ever looked upon, we do not 
wonder the sight was more than he could bear, and that 
he sought to put the awful spectacle away alike from 
sight and memory. Ah ! how unwelcome and terrible 
the question, “ Where is thy brother ? ” He knew where 
he had left him. He remembered how he had left him. 
His eyes could even now reproduce with painful vivid- 
ness that horrible sight — the last so indelibly burned 
in upon his averted vision — the cold stiff body of his 
own mother’s son, his younger brother, brought low by 
his own murderous hand, and now lying stretched in 
saddest loneliness upon the silent field. He was not 
with Abel, when God found him. “ Where is thy 
brother ? ” 

The murderer’s reply is painfully suggestive. For one 
thing, it reveals the spirit of the man. We can not fail 
to notice the brutality of Cain’s nature, in contrast with 
the shame and anguish of our first parents, in their fall. 
They had sinned, and were conscious of the fact. They, 
too, had fled from the face and voice of God. But, 
when confronted by their Creator, they are overwhelmed 
with a sense of shame. They seek to palliate and ex- 
cuse their offence, which yet they acknowledge. They 
bow to the dreadful penalty imposed by the Infinite 
Judge. And their hearts, not yet obdurately set upon 
their evil ways, turn with amazing promptness to seize 
upon the high and blessed hope of life in the Divine 
promise. We find no such spirit in their eldest son. 
There is here no flying from God, no sense of shame, 


Cain and Abel. 


23 


and no shifting of responsibility. On the contrary, we 
have from Cain a shameless lie, and a bold and blasphe- 
mous denial of all responsibility for his brother’s state. 
“ I know not : am I my brother’s keeper ? ” 

There was a measure of truth in Cain’s statement. 
He did not know that his dead brother was yet lying 
where he had left him. And, of course, he could not 
always have his brother under his eye, or in his charge, 
if he were still alive. How like the course of men in 
every age ! The lie is a sin that enters into all sins. 
But from the lie, naked and bare, men shrink. Unhesi- 
tatingly they palter with the truth, and speak the lie 
mingled with the truth, that so they may deceive them- 
selves, and be able to say, — “We are not polluted.” 
Thus it was with Cain. Though a bloody murderer, he 
dare not face the lie ; and he tampers with the truth 
even in her most holy sanctuary. But Cain stood now 
before a tribunal, where all such subterfuges availed him 
nothing. 

God did not ask for His own information, — “ What 
hast thou done ? ” Self-confessed, with all the cloaking 
of his sin, the criminal is at the bar a guilty man. Slowly 
and solemnly the awful sentence now comes forth from 
the lips of the righteous Judge. “The voice of thy 
brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. And 
now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened 
her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand : 
when thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth 
yield unto thee her strength ; a fugitive and a vagabond 
shalt thou be in the earth.” 

So “ Cain went out from the presence of the LORD.” 


24 


Companion Characters. 


Now, for the first time, the doomed man seemed to real- 
ize* the destiny before him ; and he lifted up his voice, 
like Esau in a later age, in unavailing lamentation, — “ My 
punishment is greater than I can bear.” But does not 
God often punish sin after this manner? The very 
ground was outraged by Cain’s sin. It was in the field 
that the crime was committed. The lifeless body was 
lying yonder on the ground. The ground itself had ab- 
sorbed that brother’s blood. And now from the bosom 
of the earth that crimson, tongueless tide had found a 
voice with which to cry to God. And it was fitting, 
then, that the ground should be the instrument of the 
curse. It will not yield its strength to the bloody hand. 
So, in our time, does God punish. Men sin with their 
bodies ; and their bodies curse them. Men transgress 
with their money ; and their money torments them. 
Men poison their minds ; and their minds poison their 
lives. Men trample on society ; and society turns and 
rends them. The ground cursed by the murderer’s hand 
brings a curse to the murderer’s heart. 

It is useless to speculate concerning the mark by 
which Cain was protected. It rendered him safe from 
destruction by his fellow-men. But he was none 
the less a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth. It 
seems, indeed, probable that he was a wanderer, more 
in the ceaseless restlessness of a tormented mind, than 
in actual and bodily roving ; for he, first of all men, 
built a city, and acquired a stable dwelling-place in the 
land of exile. His case is the first of a vast multitude 
of illustrations of the fact that the nomad may be at 
rest, while the citizen is an endless wanderer. True sta- 


Cain and Abel. 


25 


bility and peace depend, not on what we have without, 
but what there is within. Most sadly significant, through- 
out this whole scene, is the fact that there is manifested, 
by Cain* no penitence and no faith, but only sullen and 
gloomy despair. As in the case of the traitor Judas, 
there is here the profoundest grief over the consequences 
of transgression ; but no real sorrow for sin, or turning 
away from it to seek the Lord, whom he had so griev- 
ously offended. It is of the utmost importance for us 
to remember this fact. The story is wonderful for its 
brevity and suggestiveness. It touches all our hearts, 
and fastens firmly upon our memories. Multitudes are 
touched by the pathetic lamentation of the elder brother, 
as he mourns his grievous punishment ; and unconscious- 
ly they sympathize with him, forgetting the younger 
brother’s untimely end, so cruelly accomplished by the 
hand of violence. They forget, too, the loving expostu- 
lation of Jehovah, and the faithful warning, by which He 
sought to turn him from his guilty purpose. The God 
who punishes, is the God who warns and entreats. His 
voice to us is His voice to His people of old, — “Turn 
ye, turn ye, from your evil ways ; for why will ye die, O 
house of Israel.” 

Such were Cain and Abel. And such was the right- 
eous manner in which God treated them. In the one 
scene of their lives, portrayed in the Holy Scriptures, 
we see how they worshiped ; and how Jehovah looked 
upon their offerings. Our view of the subject would 
not be complete, if we failed to note some of the impor- 
tant practical lessons which it emphasizes for our in- 
struction. Let us learn — 


2 6 


Companion Characters. 


I. That there is no access to God but by expiation. 
“Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission.” 
No truth is more uniformly taught, in God's Word, than 
this, that sin must be atoned for, or it must be punished. 
This is the solemn lesson of man's first worship at the 
gates of Eden. Again and again, the lesson is repeated 
on every smoking altar in patriarchal times. We read 
the same story in scarlet letters throughout the whole 
ceremonial worship in Israel. On the forefront of Taber- 
nacle and Temple a Divine hand wrote the sacred legend, 
— “ There is life only in the blood.” And this is the 
grand lesson of Calvary. The song of salvation is a 
song of blood. Paul strikes the key-note, when he says, 
— “We have redemption through His blood”; and the 
song rises through all the stages of Christian experience, 
— “Justified by faith in the blood,” and “Cleansed from 
all sin by the blood,” and “ Having peace through the 
blood,” and “ Being made nigh by the blood,” we “ En- 
ter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus” — until, far 
off on yonder hills of heaven, the highest strains resound 
from the ransomed host, who “ Overcame by the blood 
of the Lamb,” and who have “Washed their robes, and 
made them white in the blood of the Lamb,” as they 
sing, — “ Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God 
by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and peo- 
ple, and nation.” 

This is emphatically and distinctively the Christian 
religion. And it has been well said, — “The tendency 
of the world’s religion just now is, to reject the blood ; 
and to glory in a gospel which needs no sacrifice, no 
‘ Lamb slain.’ Thus they go 4 in the way of Cain ’ (Jude 


Cain and Abel. 


2 7 


2.) Cain refused the blood, and came to God without 
it. He would not own himself a sinner, condemned to 
die, and needing the death of another to save him. This 
was man’s open rejection of God’s own way of life. 
Foremost in this rejection of, what is profanely called 
by some scoffers, ‘ the religion of the shambles,’ we see 
the first murderer ; and he, who would not defile his 
altar with the blood of a lamb, pollutes the earth with 
his brother’s blood.”* 

2. The insidious growth and awful power of sin. We 
have already marked some of the steps by which Cain 
went on his downward way. The solemn fact that there 
were steps in his fall deserves our thoughtful reflection. 
The process was rapid ; but there was a process. Sin 
grows. Insidiously but certainly it increases with defil- 
ing and damning power. Sin tends to develop sin. 
“ Like all other forms of character, sin grows. Never 
for an hour is it at a standstill. No soul can live in eter- 
nal infancy. One sin begets another sin. Nothing else 
in nature is so prolific. One sin roots itself in the soil 
of character, and spreads itself outward, and lifts itself 
heavenward defiantly. Sin penetrates the underground 
of character, and forms there hidden enormities and un- 
conscious depths of passion.” f 

It was so with Cain. He did not become a murderer 
all at once. He began with a course of conduct, that 
seemed to deny that he was a sinner at all. He ended 
in a deed that stamped him as a sinner of the deepest 


* Dr. Horace Bonar’s “ God’s Way of Peace,” p. 6o. 
t Dr. Austin Phelps’ “Studies of the Old Testament,” p. 139. 


28 


Companion Characters. 


dye. All that lies between these two extremes, illus- 
trates, not only the growth, but also the power of trans- 
gression. Sin is a deceitful and treacherous beast. At 
first it courts control. It is but a little thing. It can 
be so easily managed. It is so submissive to the human 
will. How easy to master it, and to use it for our own 
advantage and happiness ! And so we are persuaded to 
mount the crafty animal, only to find out that, when 
once on, it is almost impossible to get off. The once 
tractable steed, too, is now no longer so. Its evil and 
imperious nature begins now to reveal itself. It will 
carry us, but it will carry us whither we would not. We 
were masters, but now we are slaves ; and he who rules 
us, rules us with a rod of iron. He rules us none the 
less, that he rules by serving us — serving our lusts and 
pleasures. “ Whosoever committeth sin is the servant 
of sin.” And the slave of sin is the veriest slave of all 
slaves ; for sin is the tyrant of all tyrants. Let us be- 
ware of “ the croucher at the door.” 

3. The only true immortality. Abel was Eve’s “ van- 
ishing vapor.” His life, we are ready to say, answered 
to his name. So soon cut off, what a failure of life’s 
great end and purpose! But was it so? How long 
shall we be learning that life does not consist in length 
of days ? Abel was dead ; but four thousand years after 
his days the pen of inspiration says, “ He, being dead, 
yet speaketh.” The lesson of his faith was not then 
lost to the world. Nor is it yet. His spirit, worship, and 
example are still a living power in the earth. Men do 
not need to live long, in order to live well. A long life 
is not necessary to a commanding influence. Multitudes 


Cain and Abel. 


29 


of men are dead, long before their fellow-men bury them. 
The living men of this and other generations have long 
since been laid to rest in the sepulchres of their fathers. 
Abel’s case was the first, and one of the most conspicu- 
ous, but not last illustration of the words of our blessed 
Lord, — “ Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground 
and die, it abideth alone : but if it die, it bringeth forth 
much fruit.” The death of Abel was necessary in order 
to his life. But for that death, we should have had only 
the grain of wheat, where now we enjoy the glorious 
golden harvest. Let us comfort ourselves in the early 
death of the believing and the good. They only truly 
live. Yonder on the heights of life to die no more, they 
live. But, more than this, they live here in the midst 
of the dying. The world counts them but a “ vanishing 
vapor”; but in the sacred and precious influence of their 
example, they still live ; and, as they could not, while 
they were alive, continue powerfully to mould and shape 
the characters and lives of the coming race. The van- 
ishing vapor may leave a greener earth, while through 
its rifted side it opens the sunny heavens to the waiting 
vision. 


II. 


JACOB AND ESAU. 



HE history of Jacob and Esau occupies about one- 


fifth part of the book of Genesis. It would be 


difficult as well as inexpedient, therefore, to attempt 
here even a summary of their respective lives. No epit- 
ome of the story could be so interesting to the casual 
reader, or so suggestive to a thoughtful mind, as the 
sacred narrative itself. We linger, with unfailing atten- 
tion, over the few brief episodes in the lives of these 
twin brothers. The Divine preference of the younger 
to the elder, announced to the troubled mother, before 
the birth of the children, introduces us, thus early in the 
Inspired Volume, to the high and holy mysteries of the 
doctrine of election, so abundantly illustrated in subse- 
quent portions of Holy Scripture. The selling of the 
birthright, and the theft of the paternal blessing, and 
the final and friendly meeting of the long estranged 
brothers — these are culminating scenes in no ordinary 
lives. They are full of light and shade. They are pro- 
foundly illustrative of character. And they furnish many 
practical lessons of present and potent value. Out of 
this mine of wealth, let us gather some of the ore, which, 
transmuted into the currency of our every-day life, may 


(30) 


Jacob and Esau. 


3i 


prove of both immediate and lasting spiritual profit to 
us. The record of these contrasted lives throws light 
upon some prominent mistakes, into which multitudes 
in modern times are prone to fall. Such, for example, 
is — 


/. — The Disposition to Meddle with the Divine Purposes. 

The result, as in the case here illustrated, is uniformly 
unfortunate ; and oftentimes it is disastrous. Of late 
years, this intermeddling has appeared uppermost in 
society, in the matter of the efificacy of prayer. As if it 
were some new and startling discovery, it is announced 
that prayer can not have any efficiency, because of the 
uniformity of nature’s laws ; or (to use the Scriptural 
synonym of this expression), by reason of the unchange- 
ableness of the Divine purposes. 

More commonly this interference with God’s decrees, 
in the effort to ascertain the limits and obligations of 
human action, comes to light in the objections of uncon- 
verted people, when urged to seek the salvation of their 
souls. It takes this form, — ‘ If God foreordains what- 
soever comes to pass, it is irrevocably decreed that I 
shall be saved or lost. I have, therefore, no power or 
efficiency in the matter. And, if it be God’s purpose to 
save me, the time of my conversion is preappointed ; 
and I can neither hasten nor hinder it. I must await 
God’s time. In His pleasure, not mine, He will save 
me.’ 

The folly of all this is well illustrated in the story of 
Jacob and Esau. A significant instance of unwarranted 
meddling with the Divine purpose, is here furnished us 


32 


Companion Characters. 


in the conduct of Jacob and his mother. Before her 
children were born, Rebecca had received an intimation 
from God, as to their respective destinies. The elder 
was to serve the younger. Jacob was chosen, Esau was 
rejected. The fact of that election was doubtless in 
time communicated by the partial mother to her favor- 
ite son. And, without waiting for God to effectuate 
His purpose in His own time and way, they immediately 
began their own plotting to make it an accomplished 
fact. So, while they were yet boys, Jacob wheedled his 
brother out of his birthright. And, when they had 
arrived at man’s estate, he and his mother entered into 
a conspiracy to deceive his blind old father, and to cheat 
his brother out of the blessing. They did not wait for 
God to carry out His purpose. And they sinned. Ought 
not men, then, to wait for God to carry out His purpose 
in their conversion? We shall see. For the present, 
another line of thought claims our attention. 

It is one of the notable, but sad instances of mistaken 
judgment, that even Christian writers are to be found, 
who do not scruple to defend the conduct of this mother 
and son. But, by every right standard of judgment* 
their actions were wholly indefensible. If Jacob was 
right in driving a hard bargain in his brother’s necessi- 
ties, and in buying all th£ inestimable blessings of the 
birthright in the covenant family for a dish of bean- 
soup ; then all the rascalities of gambling, and every 
other transaction, in which men get gain for which they 
give no proper equivalent, are justifiable in like manner. 
And, if Rebecca’s deceit, and Jacob’s barefaced lying at 
the bedside of the blind old Isaac, be right ; then it 


Jacob and Esau. 


33 

may be safely said we have no further use for the ninth 
commandment. 

This defense of such indefensible conduct is wholly 
unnecessary, and it brings discredit upon the Inspired 
Volume itself. These Bible portraits of character are 
not descriptions of perfect people. And, if they were, 
they might be good reading for the angels ; but they 
would have no such special meaning for us and adapta- 
tion to our necessities as they now have. As a matter 
of fact, they have such an irresistible fascination for us, 
because we see these people are just like ourselves, — 
“ men of like passions,” “ encompassed with infirmities,” 
exposed to temptations, falling into sin, repenting, ris- 
ing up, and on the whole getting better, and journeying 
heavenward. 

It ought to be said, indeed, that this defense is en- 
tered upon, by some, to avoid another difficulty — that 
is, the fact that such conduct is not censured in the nar- 
rative itself ; and, therefore (it is thought), it must be 
right. If it were wrong, would the inspired writer have 
omitted to record some condemnation of it ? Certainly 
there is no such record. But we shall be vastly mistaken, 
if we suppose that this fact is conclusive of the Divine 
estimate of this kind of conduct. God does not, in our 
day, speak in open and immediate condemnation of 
wrong-doing. For the most part, He leaves the pun- 
ishment of unatoned and unrepented sin for the world 
of retribution. At other times, He leaves the Nemesis 
of vengeance to follow the evolutions of His providence. 
It was so in the case now before us. 

Rebecca and Jacob were not immediately censured. 


34 


Companion Characters. 


And yet the history shows plainly that they were both 
severely punished ; and punished, too, in such a way as 
to significantly connect the penalty with the sin. 

For example, the mother’s great sin — the spring of 
all the rest — was impatience of God’s plan. She could 
not wait for God to fulfil His purpose in His own time 
and way ; she must take matters into her own hands, to 
hurry them up. So Sarah did before her, in the substi- 
tution of Hagar, and was punished in the family dissen- 
sions which arose about Ishmael. Rebecca’s punishment 
came in a life-long separation from her favorite son, and 
the vain waiting for his return. To escape the evils 
brought upon them by her own misconduct, she had 
said to Jacob, — “Arise, flee thou to Laban my brother, 
to Haran : and tarry with him a few days, until thy 
brother’s fury turn away.” Alas ! her “ few days ” 
lengthened into twenty long years; and when Jacob 
came home, his mother was probably dead. 

In like manner also, Jacob was punished. A deceiver, 
he was himself deceived, in almost every crisis of his life. 
He cheated Esau ; and Laban cheated him. He de- 
ceived his father in beguiling from him the blessing ; 
and his mother’s brother deceived him by beguiling 
him into the misery of a double marriage. It was by 
the aid of Esau’s garments that he deceived his father ; 
it was by the aid of his own Joseph’s garments that his 
sons long afterwards deceived him. It is hardly possible 
for us to doubt that these providential occurrences, so 
suggestively related, were intended by God as punish- 
ments, and punishments, too, for the particular sins 
which Rebecca and Jacob had committed. 


Jacob and Esau. 


35 


God is still the God of providence ; and His ordering 
of men’s affairs is often such as to show that He has not 
forgotten their transgressions. This, indeed, is not the 
world of final settlement ; and the Divine patience some- 
times permits the account to remain an open one until 
the great day of eternal adjudication. But in many 
cases, He visits for iniquity even while men are yet in a 
world of mercy. Not unfrequently, it is within the cir- 
cle of our knowledge and observation that the afflictions 
which men suffer, are believed, both by themselves and 
their neighbors, to be judgments from God upon them 
for their transgressions. And, were it not that we shrink 
from those uncharitable judgments, which the Scriptures 
condemn, we might well imagine that many other calam- 
ities were illustrations of the same thing. But it is 
chiefly in our own personal experience that we realize 
that God visits iniquity with punishment, in the ordering 
of His providences. The sin oftentimes is known only 
to ourselves. We alone are acquainted with its peculiar 
characteristics, and its special aggravations, what gracious 
influences we resisted in order to commit it, and what 
claims of God or rights of man we ignored or trampled 
on, in the doing of wrong. When, therefore, calamity 
came upon us, we were in a condition, and we only, to 
observe how the affliction was graduated both in kind 
and degree to our offence, so that we were constrained 
to say, — “ This is the finger of God.” No one may have 
a right to say it to us ; but it is both our right and duty 
to say it to ourselves, This is God’s notice and rebuke 
of my iniquity. 

It is particularly with punishments in kind, that we 


3 ^ 


Companion Characters. 


are able to observe, often in the experience of others, 
more frequently in our own, that God, through provi- 
dential occurrences, visits us for our transgressions. A 
man sells himself to the gratification of some master- 
passion ; and through that master-passion God punishes 
him. Let us suppose it be to gain wealth. The sin is 
not in gaining wealth, but in setting the heart upon it. 
The man virtually dethrones God. He says, not what 
the Bible says, — “ God is the portion of my soul — He 
alone can satisfy me”; but he says this of money. He 
says to gold, — “ Thou art my confidence.” With this 
he would satisfy all the cravings of his immortal spirit. 
But God punishes him just in this particular. He may 
not fail to get the wealth. But his life and experience 
emphasize the fact, always in saddest ways, and often in 
startling ways, that for him in wealth there is no satis- 
faction. 

It is so with other transgressions, and courses of 
wrong-doing. In sins of impurity and ambition and 
uncharitableness, the Divine displeasure may not be im- 
mediately perceptible ; but God’s unslumbering eye and 
unforgetful ear are upon the wrong-doer ; and in the 
course of His holy providence the righteous penalty is 
inflicted. 

A history of just such holy providence we have in the 
lives of these twin brothers in Isaac’s household. A 
record of wrong is here made, but no record of condem- 
nation is written over against it. Is it not, therefore, to 
be condemned ? Mark the course of the history ; and 
remember that history is chiefly but a record of God’s 
doing; and remember further that this is His divinely 


Jacob and Esau. 


37 


authorized and inspired history. Then, noting how 
affliction, most significantly connected with their sins, 
comes upon Rebecca and Jacob, we dare not say such 
conduct meets with the Divine favor. He condemns it, 
and so must we. 

The conspirators in Isaac’s household, then, were 
not immediately, but none the less heavily, punished. 
Rebecca learned the lesson, needed by many in our 
times, that “ they who will go before God must event- 
ually wait for God.” And Jacob found that it is no 
uncommon experience of the wrong-doer, that “ His 
mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent 
dealing shall come down upon his own pate.” And 
both of them learned that all intermeddling with God’s 
purposes is a usurpation of Divine prerogatives. 

It is equally unwarranted in any of us, in these mod- 
ern times. That God has His wise and holy purposes, 
is one of the clearest revelations of the Inspired Volume. 
Those purposes stretch from eternity to eternity, and 
comprehend our little lives, as well as everything else. 
But those purposes are not the rule of our lives. They 
are, for the most part, not revealed. We are not bound 
to know anything about them. And all conduct of our 
temporal or spiritual affairs, on the supposition that 
they are thus or so, may lead to infinitely fatal mistakes. 
God’s revealed will is the only infallible rule of faith and 
practice. 

In the matter of the Divine purposes in our salvation, 
then, our duty is plain. In waiting for God, we sin after 
the manner of Jacob and his mother. They interfered 
with God’s purpose to justify the doing of wrong ; we 


38 


Companion Characters. 


interfere with those purposes to justify the doing of 
nothing. Their sin was that they touched upon the 
things not revealed ; ours is that we will not touch upon 
the things which are revealed. Nothing can be clearer 
than that we are not to wait for any supposed indication 
of God’s will, for His will we already know. Whatever 
may be obscure in the Divine purpose as to our salva- 
tion, this much we certainly know, — “ This is the will of 
him that sent me, that every one that seeth the Son, and 
believeth on him, may have everlasting life.” Our only 
and immediate duty is to accept of His grace as offered 
to us in Jesus Christ, to obey His commands, to do right, 
and to live a holy life. Doing this, no mysterious pur- 
pose of God, or inexorable law of His kingdom, will ever 
be found barring us out of the realms of the blessed in 
heaven. The will of God for our salvation is best ex- 
pressed in His own invitation, — “Come.” “Now is the 
accepted time.” “To-DAV, if ye will hear his voice.” 
“ Behold, NOW is the day of salvation.” 

Another common mistake of multitudes, in modern 
times, is to be observed in — 

II . — The Oversight of the Fact , that there are Bad Good Men in 
the World, as well as Good Bad Men. 

The latter part of this statement is readily admitted 
by those who are disposed to question the former part. 
Indeed, the most thorough believer in the total deprav- 
ity of the unregenerate nature will find no difficulty or 
inconsistency in acknowledging the fact that many, 
whose characters and lives are, taken as a whole, unmis- 
takably wicked, are nevertheless possessed of many 


Jacob and Esau. 


39 


good, noble, and amiable characteristics. It is with the 
first part of this statement that many people are most 
perplexed. They do not so readily acquiesce in the as- 
sertion that it is possible for one to be a bad good man. 
Practically, at any rate, they act upon the belief that 
there can be no such thing as an imperfect Christian. 
If a man professes to be a good man — a Christian man — 
a single deviation from the high standard of his profes- 
sion is too often sufficient to brand him, in their estima- 
tion, as a hypocrite and deceiver — a thoroughly bad 
man. 

It will be interesting, now, to examine this matter, in 
the light of the history of Jacob and Esau. The one was 
the servant of God, during the greater portion of his 
life, at least of that part of which the narrative gives us 
any information. His elder brother possessed no such 
character. “ Esau appears to have inherited from Re- 
becca the rash sanguine temperament, but without her 
nobility of soul ; from Isaac he derives a certain fond- 
ness for good living — at least of game. Jacob inherited 
from Isaac the quiet, contemplative manner ; from Re- 
becca, however, a disposition for rapid, prudent, cunning 
invention. Outwardly regarded, Jacob, on the whole, 
resembled more the father — Esau the mother.”* Be- 
sides these inherited traits, the brothers possessed other 
and very diverse characteristics. 

In some respects, Esau unquestionably impresses us 
more favorably than Jacob. And, in fact, as to some 
particulars, this is true of the elder brother, up to the 


* Lange's “Commentary on Genesis,” p. 501. 


40 


Companion Characters. 


last notice we have of him in the history, though most 
apparent in the beginning. “ So full of generous im- 
pulse, so affectionate toward his aged father, so forgiv- 
ing toward his brother, so open-handed, so chivalrous ; 
who has not, at times, felt his heart warm toward the 
poor rejected Esau, and been tempted to join with him, 
as he cries ‘with a great and exceeding bitter cry,’— 
‘ Hast thou but one blessing, my father ? bless me, even 
me also, O my father ! ’ And who does not feel, in 
like manner, at times, his indignation swell against the 
younger brother? ‘ Is he not rightly named Jacob — sup- 
planter — for he hath supplanted me these two times?’ 
He entraps his brother, he deceives his father, he makes 
a bargain even in his prayer ; in his dealings with 
Laban, in his meeting with Esau he calculates and con- 
trives ; he distrusts his neighbors ; he regards with pru- 
dential indifference the insult to his daughter, and the 
cruelty of his sons ; he hesitates to receive the assurance 
of Joseph’s good-will ; he repels, even in his lesser traits, 
the free confidence that we can not withhold from the 
Patriarchs of the elder generation.” * “ The free, easy, 

frank good-nature of the profane Esau ” wins upon us ; 
“ the craft, duplicity, and timidity of the religious Jacob ” 
repel us. 

Shall we, then, give the palm to Esau ? No, my 
friends. God has given it to Jacob. And, after a more 
thorough examination of the lives and characters of the 
twin brothers, we shall agree to the award. 

Esau appears best at first ; Jacob at last. Esau’s best 


* Stanley’s “ History of the Jewish Church,” Vol. I., pp. 58, 59. 


Jacob and Esau. 


4i 


traits were upon the surface; his deep, underlying world- 
liness, and regard for present things, were concealed. 
On the other hand, the worst features of Jacob’s charac- 
ter strike us first. A profounder study of him is neces- 
sary to disclose the nobler principles by which he was 
governed. Well and tersely has it been said, — “ On the 
one hand, fickleness, unsteadiness, weakness, want of 
faith, and want of principle, ruin and render useless the 
noble qualities of Esau ; and on the other hand, stead- 
fast purpose, resolute sacrifice of present to future, fixed 
principle, purify, elevate, and turn to lasting good even 
the baser qualities of Jacob.” 

Jacob grows, in all the elements of a noble life, from 
our earliest knowledge of him ; but it is not so with his 
brother. And the growth of the one is due to a Divine, 
inworking principle ; the decline of the other is due to 
the want of it, and of all desire for it. 

This advancement in Jacob is very readily traced, for 
we have characteristic scenes in his life, twenty years 
apart. He was clearly a different man, when he returned 
from his sojourn in the “land of the children of the 
morning,” from the Jacob, who had fled from the face 
of an angry brother. This fact is attested by the new 
name given him by the wrestling Angel. Yet there was 
a germ of Israel in Jacob from the beginning. Always 
a wrestler and prevailer, he learned, only after many 
years, that they only are “ crowned who strive lawfully.” 
He began to learn the lesson at Bethel. There first, 
after the long day of weary flight, he began to realize 
his self-imposed and summary banishment. And there, 
doubtless, penitence for his sin mingled with his deter- 


42 


Companion Characters. 


mination henceforth to serve God. He continued to 
learn the same lesson in the family and service of Laban. 
And his mastery of it appears in his wonderful prayer at 
the fords of the Jabbok, and in the more wonderful 
wrestling of the patriarch with the Angel of the Cove- 
nant. In that twenty years of exile, Jacob’s religious 
character had become vastly stronger and more consist- 
ent. We do not wonder, therefore, that, though the 
long-estranged brothers were reconciled, they yet could 
not live together. “ How can two walk together, except 
they be agreed ?” 

While Jacob had been going up, Esau had been go- 
ing down. He had evidently ceased to think of, or care 
for, the birthright blessings. He had married out of the 
covenant family, and had become more and more alien- 
ated from the covenant faith. And yet, like all persons 
going down hill, it is a significant fact that Esau seems 
to have made occasional and abortive efforts to arrest 
the deteriorating process. It was apparently in one such 
effort, that he married into the family of Abraham, 
through Ishmael. He soon realized that his early alli- 
ances were a source of grief to his godly parents. He 
now saw that Jacob had been sent away ostensibly to find 
a wife among his kindred in the east. Stirred with some 
compunctions of conscience, through the knowledge of 
these facts, he thought to rectify his mistake, so that he 
might not lose altogether the good-will of Isaac and Re- 
becca, for which he yet seemed to care. This led to his 
taking a third wife, not altogether separated from the 
covenant line. But this step was only “ the effort of a 
low and earthly mind after the glimpses of high ideals, 


Jacob and Esau. 43 

which he himself does not comprehend/’ and therefore 
it failed. 

The story repeats itself in successive generations. We 
have seen just such characters. We are meeting Jacobs 
and Esaus every day. The one is a positive character. 
All his natural qualities are strongly marked. He is 
selfish, acquisitive, ambitious, envious, not careful of the 
truth, nor scrupulous of the means by which he obtains 
his ends ; and we shrink from him, repelled by the dom- 
inance of these qualities that for the present almost en- 
tirely obscure the young but growing plants of grace. 
The other is largely a negative character. He is easy- 
going, generous, and amiable. He is the “soul of honor,” 
“a mighty good kind of a man,” a “hail fellow well met.” 
Oftentimes he is witty, the life of the company, and the 
favorite of the multitude. He has, indeed, so many ad- 
mirable qualities on the surface, that many fail to notice 
the deep and radical defects — the sunken rocks on which 
the bark of his hopes and life is sure to be wrecked. 
These are want of principle, an easy satisfaction with 
the present to the total neglect of the future, a gener- 
osity that outrides justice, and a free living that breaks 
down the barriers of rectitude ; and such like qualities, 
which must ultimately ruin the most attractive and lovely 
character. 

If, now, we observe the one, we shall not find him 
perfect by any means. But we shall find him growing 
day by day. Slowly but surely the qualities that re- 
pelled us are being removed, or transformed ; while all 
that is noble and good is getting the ascendency in his 
life. The governing and germinant principle of his life 


44 


Companion Characters. 


holds him steadily to God and righteousness. The needle 
of his experiences wavers, with conflicting influences, but 
it settles always pointing to the pole. And in his life, 
as in Jacob’s, "it is reserved to the chemistry of God to 
separate the dross of sin from the pure metal of a pious 
striving.” If we observe the other, we shall notice a 
very different process going on. All those attractive 
qualities, with which good health and unfailing cheerful 
spirits have so much to do, become dim, or entirely dis- 
appear, with the waning of the causes that produced 
them. As the rains on the mountains melt the snow 
which made them look so beautifully rounded and per- 
fect, thereby disclosing the dark and rugged and un- 
changing peaks beneath ; so the storms of life soon scat- 
ter the superficial qualities which made the youthful 
character so lovely, and bring out in startling prominence 
the unchanging lines of a base and ungainly spirit. 

In rectifying the mistake, therefore, upon which we 
have been reflecting, it is important that we should bear 
in mind these two things, viz. : First, there is an essen- 
tial difference between a spiritual and a worldly mind. 
Secondly, the only infallible test of a spiritual character 
is growth in holiness of life. A failure to mark the one 
may lead to mistaken judgments of others ; without not- 
ing the other, all judgments of the spiritual character 
and condition of others are, to say the least, premature. 

Still another widely prevalent mistake, especially 
among young people, is solemnly emphasized in this 
primitive story, viz. : 


Jacob and Esau. 


45 


III. — Forgetfulness of the Truth , that Destinies frequently turn 
upon Trifles. 

This was Esau’s mistake in selling his birthright. Un- 
like his brother, who was a man of the future, he lived 
only in the present. The fact that Jacob sinned did not 
excuse him. He despised his birthright, and preferred 
a temporary delight. He had denied himself the grati- 
fication of his appetite through the day, and while en- 
gaged perhaps in the congenial excitements of hunting, 
or other occupations of the field. But now the blessings 
of the birthright have less restraining power upon him 
than his daily pleasures. He is ready to sacrifice them 
all for a transient gratification of a bodily craving. “ For 
one morsel of meat he sold his birthright,” forfeiting 
all the privileges of the first-born, the blessing of his 
father, and the high and honorable place of progenitor 
of the covenant race and covenant Seed. We may sor- 
row with Esau ; and we may even feel like questioning 
the justice of the transaction ; but we may not, and can 
not, deny the fact. A great and unchangeable destiny 
turned upon the doings of that hour, when the tired, 
hungry hunter came in from the field. 

And Esau himself, afterward, realized the fact. He 
seems yet to have entertained the hope that he might 
receive the paternal blessing, which Isaac was not un- 
willing to bestow upon him. But, when he failed in this, 
through the Divine ordering, then he awoke to the fact 
that he had acted very foolishly. The result was his bit- 
ter and unavailing lamentation, — “ Hast thou but one 
blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my 


46 


Companion Characters. 


father.” So Cain bewailed the consequences of his hasty 
sin in lifting his hand against his brother. He went out 
from the presence of the Lord, crying in the bitterness 
of his soul, — “ My punishment is greater than I can 
bear.” So also was Judas left to mourn the irrevocable 
consequences of his brief bargain with the chief priests, 
as in anguish of spirit, he cast from him the accursed 
pieces, and went from the temple crying, — “ I have 
sinned, in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.” 

The dish of broth was a trifling thing. The choice 
of it by Esau was apparently an insignificant act. But 
it changed the history of his race, and indeed of the 
world. And the patriarch’s case is not a solitary one in 
the Divine administration of human affairs. If it seem 
to us excessively severe, we are to remember that in the 
circumstances of our daily life, the same thing is occur- 
ring again and again. We neither deny the fact, nor 
question the justice of God in so ordering. 

The soldier, furloughed and journeying home, accom- 
plishes the long ride in safety. But, when just in sight 
of familiar scenes and expectant friends, his eager spirit 
leads him to a too hasty step, and he falls under the re- 
morseless wheels, to perish. A merchant, delayed by the 
friendly greeting of a neighbor, steps to the pier to find 
the steamer, on which his family have already embarked, 
moving off ; and his wife, for the moment crazed by the 
prospect of separation, flings herself from the vessel, 
only to find a watery grave. That home is broken up, 
and that man’s life is henceforth shadowed in conse- 
quence of a trivial act, measured only by a moment. 

These are illustrations of innocent trivialities result- 


Jacob and Esau. 


4 7 


ing in irreversible and momentous consequences. The 
experiences of human life will furnish many incidents, in 
which the trivial deed was one of sin and wrong. Trifles 
men call them. But men are mistaken. The handsome, 
happy, honored young man, the pride of his parents, and 
the idol of society, puts the name of his employer to a 
piece of business paper. It is the work of but a mo- 
ment. But the results are as lasting as life. The man 
falls from his high place ; and, even if he escapes the 
penalty of the law, disgrace and ruin are too often the 
consequence of his single and, as he thinks, insignificant 
act. 

It ought not to surprise us, then, that the same prin- 
ciple should be found influential in spiritual things. 
And it is a woful mistake to overlook this fact. God 
is pleased often to make our eternal destiny turn upon 
single and, as we regard them, trifling actions. It does 
not require a vast effort to say No, to the pleadings of 
the Holy Spirit ; and He may take us at our word, and 
leave us to ourselves, to make our henceforth unob- 
structed way down to death. The “ trifle ” that hinders 
us may not be in itself wrong ; but because we put it in 
the place of God, and use it to bar out from our hearts 
the Divine Visitor, it becomes the one last step, that 
precipitates us into the gulf of ruin. A young law- 
student, religiously trained and educated, tried for many 
years to make himself an infidel. In a time of spiritual 
quiet in the community he was brought under deep 
conviction through the strivings of the Holy Spirit. 
Just while in such a state, a friend asked him to write a 
deed. There was no haste for it. But he chose to do 


48 


Companion Characters. 


it, rather than listen to the voice of the Heavenly Mes- 
senger. It was the work of but a few moments ; but 
when it was done, the Divine Spirit was gone. The 
halting soul did not have a single conviction of sin for 
ten long years after he thus for a trifle said to the Spirit 
of grace, — “ Go thy way for this time.” The spiritual 
destiny of ten years turned upon that trifling act. Alas ! 
how much is it to be feared that eternal destinies often 
turn upon just such trifles ! God, who has waited so 
long, is waiting now no more. 

We must not forget also that destiny justly turns 
thus upon trifles, because trifles furnish the deepest and 
truest insight into character. It was so with Esau. 
This was not the first time he had looked contemptu- 
ously upon the blessing of the birthright. He had 
grown to man’s estate, in the habit of gratifying his 
fleshly appetites, to the neglect of his spiritual nature. 
And, so, when the hour of trial came, the occasion 
needed to be but a little thing to prove how unworthy 
he was of the privileges which he despised. 

It is a solemn inquiry, with which we may close our 
reflections upon these contrasted characters : How many 
among us are like the elder brother? How many there 
are with whom a transient pleasure is of more value, 
practically, than all the promises of God. “ The lan- 
guage of their hearts and conduct is, 1 Give me the grati- 
fication of my desires ; I must and will have it, whatever 
it cost me. If I can not have it but at the peril of my 
soul, so be it. Let my hope in Christ be destroyed ; let 
my prospects of heaven be forever darkened ; only give 


Jacob and Esau. 


49 


me the indulgence which my lusts demand.’”* How 
sorrowful must be the unavailing lamentation of all 
such, when God the Spirit takes them at their word, 
and leaves them alone ! They have chosen the trifle, 
and for the trifle they perish. Rather than deny them- 
selves for a little time in this present world, they will 
sacrifice all hope for the world which is to come. A 
mess of pottage is better to their earthly souls than the 
most honorable place among the Israel of God. And 
God says of them : As they choose, so shall they live. 

May His gracious Spirit enable us to choose that 
“ good part which shall never be taken from us.” 


* Bush’s “ Notes on Genesis,” Vol. II., p. 70. 


3 


III. 


MOSES AND AARON. 


HE providence of God is both general and special. 



The same guiding hand that was shaping Israel’s 


way to the Exodus, was also preparing the leaders for 
the part they were to act in the great deliverance. 
While God was permitting Pharaoh to lay heavier bur- 
dens upon the people, until their bondage became ex- 
ceedingly bitter, in the same hour He was sending Moses 
into Egypt, and sending Aaron to meet Moses. In this 
wilderness-meeting of the two brothers we have our in- 
troduction to the future leaders of the emancipated na- 
tion. Two hundred and fifteen years have passed away 
since Jacob left the hills of promise to dwell in the fer- 
tile plains of Goshen. Another dynasty has risen to the 
throne of empire since the days of Joseph. A different 
king now sways the sceptre from him who wore the 
crown in Moses’ childhood. 

The patriarchs are venerable men of fourscore years, 
as they pass from the solitudes of desert Midian into the 
populous valley of the Nile, and exchange the sublime 
simplicity of nature’s mountains for the paling splendors 
of Egypt’s imperial court. For forty years they are to 


(50) 


Moses and Aaron. 


5i 


be the Divinely-commissioned and publicly-recognized 
organizers and leaders of a new and peculiar nation. 

From this point, therefore, in the life of the Levite 
brothers, we may look both ways. From a backward 
glance upon their separate and widely different careers 
we shall gather light for their henceforth united life, be- 
ginning on the banks of the Nile and ending on the 
) borders of Canaan. 

I . — This retrospect reveals their diverse, yet fitting , training for their re- 
spective parts in the great work. 

Moses and Aaron were alike in sharing the influences 
and blessings of a religious home in their childhood. 
The narrative, indeed, affords but momentary glimpses 
of the inner life of the household of Amram and Joche- 
bed. But these glimpses are enough to convince the 
careful reader that, in the midst of the debasing influ- 
ences of bondage to an idolatrous people, this family 
retained, in an unusual degree, the knowledge and wor- 
ship of God. It is profoundly suggestive that the early 
years of these leaders of God’s host were spent in the 
bosom of a family that feared and loved His holy name. 

The history of His Church shows that this is no ex- 
traordinary method of Divine Providence. When God 
wants a leader for His children, He entrusts him to the 
genial atmosphere and careful culture of a believing and 
holy house. Whatever influences the coming years shall 
bring to mould their characters and form their lives, the 
strong foundations of future greatness for the leaders in 
the kingdom of God are usually laid in the scenes where 
Jehovah is worshiped, and the supremacy of spirit- 


52 


Companion Characters. 


ual things is a daily and well-nigh unconscious recog- 
nition. There is a wide-spread impression to the con- 
trary, it is true. Many seem to think that he is best 
fitted to lead sinners in the right way, and to guide the 
Church of God in her warfare with the world, who, with- 
out any Christian nurture and training, has spent his 
early life in all the excesses of wickedness, from which 
he has been rescued by a manifest interposition of 
Almighty power. The course of history shows that 
God has never acted upon this principle in the guidance 
of His people. 

From the religious influences of their early life, these 
brothers, born to lead, went forth to widely different 
futures. The one was destined to be a prince, and the 
other to be a slave. The same wise hand of Israel’s God 
was shaping their ways and fitting them for their pre- 
appointed lot. In the toil and sorrows of the common 
bondage, Aaron learned to sympathize with the afflic- 
tions of his brethren. He thus acquired, as only he 
could acquire them, the qualifications for becoming the 
high-priest of his people — an office pre-eminently de- 
manding of its incumbent that he should be one, “ Who 
can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that 
are out of the way ; for that he himself also is compassed 
with infirmity.” 

As grand a leader as was Moses, and mighty as he 
was in mediating for his people, we recognize at once 
his separateness from the race of bondmen. We read- 
ily see that no man who has spent one-third of his life, 
and that third its formative period, in one social posi- 
tion, can fully enter into the feelings, hopes, and trials 


Moses and Aaron. 


53 




of those in a lower scale — as men graduate the scale. 
The minister, “ in things pertaining to God,” must be 
“ taken from among men.” The Lord’s Christ was him- 
self no exception. Nor was Aaron. It was the slave, 
not the prince, who was destined to minister at the altar. 

And yet the training of Moses was equally well fitted 
to prepare him for his responsible trust. What the quiet, 
uneventful, every-day life of servitude did for Aaron in 
developing the qualities and aptitudes in which he 
excelled, the life of Moses as a prince of the empire 
did for him. He was “ learned in all the wisdom of the 
Egyptians.” As one destined for a high place in the 
greatest kingdom then existing in the world, he acquired 
that extensive knowledge of law and government and 
military affairs, which would be so helpful to him in the 
great work of organizing Israel into a nation. He ob- 
tained, also, what a slave could never get, the habit of 
self-reliance and the power to command, so needful in 
one who is to be the leader of men. In this respect 
Aaron signally failed. Through all the forty years of 
their joint leadership, the elder brother leaned upon 
the younger. 

There is an important lesson in this fact for all who 
have children to educate and train for an immortal des- 
tiny. In early life, and while they are yet at home, they 
are like the house-plants. You watch them with un- 
slumbering carefulness. You seek to shield them from 
every rude and wintry blast. And in this you are wise. 
But this you can not always do. The day comes on 
apace, when you must expose them to the sun and rain. 
This is a necessity for not only their growth, but also for 


54 


Companion Characters. 


their life. The shielded, shaded plant will sicken and 
die. Or, dropping the figure, the time is soon at hand 
when your child must take his destiny in his own hands. 
You can not keep him at home. You can not cover his 
head from the storm. Nor is it best that you should. 
If his character is ever to possess anything more than 
negative qualities, he must be tried and tested. And 
your parental duty will be best performed, not by de- 
taining him in the enervating atmosphere of an untried 
and easy life, but rather by planting the roots of right 
principles, and then superintending their growth under 
a wise daily and increasing exposure to the storm. Then 
Amram and Jochebed may die; but in God’s time the 
weather-beaten, trial -tried Moses shall step into the 
breach for Israel’s deliverance, while the home-bred, 
storm-shielded Aaron fails in every crisis. 

Especially will this be so, if he learns, as Moses did 
in Midian, in connection with a reliance upon self so far 
as man is concerned, to rest also and only upon God. 
All other self-reliance is perfect weakness, when there is 
needed a mountain of strength. That second forty-year 
period in the life of Moses was as important in prepar- 
ing him for leading Israel as was the first. He was to 
be not only a leader of men, but also a minister for God. 
And the ambassador who shall properly represent the 
mind and wishes of the king, must wait long at the court 
of his Sovereign. To all of us there come waiting 
periods in life. God takes us, blinded by the shifting 
scenes of our busy life, out of the town, that He may 
put His fingers upon our eyes and cause us to look up 
and see the things which before were invisible. In the 


Moses and Aaron. 


55 


midst of mountain solitudes, in the simple duties of 
pastoral life, and in the quiet joys of a loving home, 
Moses came to know and understand God, as he should 
never have done in the court of Pharaoh. In the life of 
almost every great leader of the Church of God we shall 
find this waiting period. It is an interval in life, and 
oftentimes to the person himself it may seem like a use- 
less and aimless period. The gates of one era have 
closed, and those of another have not opened. And, so, 
the man, perhaps conscious of increasing powers, impa- 
tiently awaits the destined field on which they shall find 
their fitting exercise. “ They also serve who only wait 
and the waiting that is Divinely appointed shall never 
be in vain. 

I . Of all the characters of modern history, Moses is 
most nearly reproduced in William the Silent, Prince 
of Orange.* The parallel between the two lives fur- 
nishes a number of notable points. They were alike in 
the possession of pious mothers. We know what Joche- 
bed, the mother of Moses, must have been, from what 
her son afterward became. The mother of William of 
Orange is known in history as Juliana of Stolberg. The 
historian thus speaks of this remarkable woman, — “ She 
was a person of most exemplary character and unaf- 
fected piety. She instilled into the minds of all her 
children the elements of that devotional sentiment 
which was her own striking characteristic ; and it was 
destined that the seed sown early should increase to an 
abundant harvest. Nothing can be more tender or more 


* See Dr. Hamilton’s “ Moses the Man of God,” page 26. 


56 


Companion Characters. 


touching than the letters, which still exist from her hand, 
written to her illustrious sons in hours of anxiety or 
anguish, and to the last recommending to them, with as 
much earnest simplicity as if they were still little chil- 
dren at her knee, to rely always, in the midst of the 
trials and dangers which were to beset their paths in 
life, upon the great hand of God. Among the mothers 
of great men, Juliana of Stolberg deserves a foremost 
place ; and it is no slight eulogy that she was worthy to 
have been the mother of William of Orange, and of 
Lewis, Adolphus, Henry, and John of Nassau.”* 

The leader of the United Netherlands was like the 
leader of United Israel also, in the fact that both were 
brought up as pages in an imperial court. Moses, as 
the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, was doubtless from early 
life familiar with all “ the pomp and circumstance ” of a 
kingly household. And William of Orange led a sim- 
ilar life in the court of Charles V. Obviously, then, 
they were alike in the training they received, among the 
grandees of empires, in the science of government. It 
was a wise providential arrangement that these two 
leaders of God’s chosen people, in their struggles for 
liberty, should be trained and qualified for this work by 
the very powers which, in the accomplishment of their 
missions, they were to overthrow. 

But more than all, these leaders were alike in the long 
dormant power of their mothers’ early instruction, and 
in the supremacy of that teaching in later life. What the 
parents of Moses did for him must have been done early. 


* Motley’s “ History of the Dutch Republic,” Vol. I., page 235. 


Moses and Aaron. 


5 7 


“ How many testimonies of God’s love to the fathers of 
their nation his mother dropped into his youthful ear ; 
how much she told him of God as 1 the exceeding great 
reward ’ of His believing people ; how well she put the 
contrast between ‘ the treasures of Egypt ’ and the treas- 
ures laid up for God’s then persecuted people ; — these 
points are rather left to our inference than definitely 
stated ; but we may be very sure that the faith of Moses 
took hold of these grand truths of then extant revela- 
tion, fixed its hold early, and held fast through all his 
future life.”* But long years passed away before they 
began to exert such a commanding power over him as to 
lead him to the great choice of his destiny. In the case 
of William the Silent also, we may well believe that the 
early instructions of Juliana of Stolberg were never en- 
tirely forgotten. But slowly they came to exert a con- 
trolling influence upon his life and character. He had 
come to mature years before he was prepared to be the 
commander of the little army of the Dutch Republic in 
its struggle for independence. 

Thus were the leaders of the future nation of Israel 
prepared and trained for their respective places — Aaron 
in the trials of the common bondage, and Moses in Miz- 
raim’s highest school of government. Meanwhile the 
bondage grew more bitter. The suffering slaves began 
to cry to God. And God heard them. But Jehovah 
works in “ infinite leisure,” and it required time to pre- 
pare the leaders for their work, as also to prepare the 
people to be led. But at last the work is done ; and 


* " The Pentateuch.’ 
3 * 


By Dr. Henry Cowles, page 177. 


58 


Companion Characters. 


now another scene opens in the contrasted lives of Moses 
and Aaron. 

TI . — With such a Training , the Venerable Brothers appeared before 
the King of Egypt. 

The story is a familiar one ; and it is unnecessary to 
rehearse it upon these pages. Eveiy Bible reader knows 
it thoroughly. The deliverance of Israel from the bond- 
age in Egypt is one of the grand events of ancient his- 
tory. Not by invasion, war, or conquest was the rescue 
accomplished. It was done by the direct intervention 
of a Divine Power. The preliminary stages of that de- 
liverance demand our attention just now, as the portion 
of the history that throws special light upon the charac- 
ter, talents, and mutual relations of Moses and Aaron. 

The leaders of Israel before Pharaoh, is one of the 
most interesting and solemn scenes in the Pentateuch. 
It is the first recorded contest between a pretended and 
a real supernatural. Egypt was the home of the proud- 
est and mightiest civilization. Her learned men were 
the sages of the world. By their vast knowledge of the 
secrets of science, and their wonderful proficiency in 
mysterious arts, they had gained and still maintained a 
strong hold upon the minds of the common people, 
being held in repute by them as the august ministers of 
the Superhuman Powers. And Pharaoh and his court 
believed in the supernatural. Whether or not his wise 
men did, is not so certain. But they were not so pro- 
gressive as some of the wise men of modern times. The 
latter have succeeded in getting rid altogether of the 
supernatural element of religion. It is not simply un- 


Moses and Aaron. 


59 


necessary. It is both absurd and impossible. The rulers 
of Egypt had not “ advanced ” so far. They believed in 
wonder-works, as tokens of Divine power, and evidences 
of a Divine commission. They were quite ready, then, 
to witness the contest, when the wise men of Egypt ac- 
cepted the gauge of battle from the Hebrew slaves, and 
entered the lists to confound their claims to the exclu- 
sive possession of supernatural powers and of a Divine 
commission. 

The battle was fought before Pharaoh. The scene is 
laid in the royal palace. On the one side, stand the 
leaders of Israel — Moses and Aaron. On the other side, 
are the champions of Mizraim — Jannes and Jambres. 
The conflict continued for many days. And, for a time, 
the enemies of God and Israel seem to have held their 
own. With their marvellous feats of jugglery, the royal 
necromancers were able to simulate even some of the 
miracles of Moses and Aaron. But they were only the 
more plainly rushing to their own destruction. They 
were no match for the accumulated resources of Om- 
nipotence. And, before the growing evidences of Jeho- 
vah’s power, they were at length compelled to retire, 
crying, in dismay, to their more obstinate and blinded 
sovereign, — “ This is the finger of God.” 

This contest is replete with lessons of wisdom, by no 
means inappropriate to many of the modern phases of 
religious thought and conflicts. The magicians of Egypt 
denied the supernatural, and aimed to discredit the Di- 
vine legation of Moses. The apostles of modern infidel- 
ity are engaged in the same conflict. Theirs is a battle 
with the supernatural. The unconscious tendency of 


6o 


Companion Characters. 


the two great forces hostile to Christianity illustrates 
this fact. Let us notice the progress of Rationalistic 
Criticism. It began with calling in question the separate 
wonder-works of the Gospel. But it was soon seen that 
it was useless to assail the New Testament miracles, so 
long as that miracle of miracles — the Christ himself — 
remained. So the great Christological controversy be- 
gan. In getting rid of the Divine character of Christ, 
the first step was to charge lying and fraud upon Him 
and His apostles. When that proved a failure, the next 
step was to represent Christ as the victim of self-decep- 
tion and enthusiasm. But this was soon seen to be an 
inadequate explanation of His personality. So the third 
step, in this line of assault, was to charge a false concep- 
tion of Christ upon the apostles. Then, reviewing this 
controversy as to the person of Christ, it was finally dis- 
covered that it was in vain to assail the separate miracles 
of the Bible, or to deny the Divine Character of the 
Christ, if yet the miracle of creation and a Creator re- 
mains. If God exists at all, then somewhere, and at 
some period, there must have been a manifestation of 
supernatural, miraculous power. And, if this be so, 
then here is laid a broad foundation for all the mir- 
acles of Christianity. So, says the advocate of modern 
infidelity, the supernatural must first of all be over- 
thrown. 

We may see the same awful progress in the other 
hostile wing of infidelity, just now so rampant in the 
world Materialism. This method of attack begins in 
mental philosophy. Here materialism becomes sensa- 
tionalism, using that term in its strict philosophic sense. 


Moses and Aaron. 


6 1 


We know nothing but what we learn through the senses ; 
and of course then we have no intuitive truths. Then 
there is no intuitive knowledge of God. Again, we 
know nothing of things, but only the relations of things. 
And, of course, if we can not know material things, how 
can we know the invisible and immaterial? Yet again, 
there is no such thing as cause and effect ; and so the 
argument for the existence of God from design is of no 
value. But a second step, in the progress of this form 
of infidelity, is necessary. What avails it to discuss the 
operations of the mind, while you admit that the mind 
itself exists ? So another step in advance is to be taken. 
Materialism now passes from the realms of mental phi- 
losophy into the domain of psychology, and ventures to 
assert the identity of mind and matter. And still this 
position is unsatisfactory and untenable. Another step 
is inevitable. It will not do to set the foundations of 
moral action in the right of the thing — in moral obliga- 
tion ; because the reasoning thence to a moral Supreme 
Ruler is immediate and irresistible. Hence in morals, 
materialism becomes utilitarianism. Nor is this the end 
of the process. Yet another step is a necessity. Mate- 
rialism, which in mental philosophy is pure sensational- 
ism, and in psychology obliterates all distinction between 
matter and mind, and in morals is simply utilitarianism, 
must now, through a logical necessity, take another po- 
sition. The line is wholly untenable, if there be a God. 
If God exists, we must serve Him. If He be an extra- 
mundane, spiritual being, we are bound to worship Him 
in spirit and in truth. So, this form of infidelity stands 
with the other confronting the idea of the supernatural. 


62 


Companion Characters. 


In all substantial particulars, it is the renewal of the old 
contest in the court of Pharaoh. 

But it would carry us too far out of our course, to 
enter into it at any greater length. We are interested 
just now, most of all, in the champions of Israel. We 
can hardly fail to notice the resemblance of this scene 
before the king of Egypt to another, later in the inspired 
record — one of those curious repetitions of which all his- 
tory is so full — the preaching of Paul and Barnabas in 
the streets of Lystra, the city of Lycaonia. In both 
cases, the servants of Jehovah were seeking the overthrow 
of a strong delusion, and the emancipation of a people 
from centuries of bondage. In both cases, they gave 
signal tokens of a Divine commission in wonder-works. 
In both cases, they were mutual helpers of each other. 
In both cases, one only stood forth as the chief speaker. 
What Paul was in Lystra, Aaron was in the capital of 
Egypt. 

Here, however, the resemblance ceases. Paul, so elo- 
quent as to be surnamed Mercurius, was in every respect 
superior to Barnabas. But Aaron surpassed his brother 
only in his golden mouth and silver tongue. Before the 
grandees of the empire, the eloquent slave stood forth 
most prominent ; but the princely Moses was prince and 
leader still. As with Jacob and Esau, the elder still 
served the younger. The flowery speech and showy elo- 
quence of Aaron may have given him importance in the 
courtly throng of the royal palace ; but the grand admin- 
istrative gifts of Moses, less attractive to the superficial 
gaze, were of priceless value to the toiling race of slaves. 
The wisdom of God is signally manifested in sending 


Moses and Aaron. 


63 


Moses and Aaron together. Thus the Lord sent His 
disciples two and two. As with the Apostles, the lead- 
ers of Israel were the complements of each other. The 
deficiencies of the one were supplemented by the other. 
In the court of Egypt, and before the voluble minions 
of despotism, Moses needed, and was greatly aided by, 
his brother, Aaron. 

The case was just reversed, in the next great scene of 
their life, to which we now turn. 

III. — In the Presence of God , before Mount Sinai , Aaron greatly 
needed Moses. 

The Mediator of the old covenant was up in the Holy 
Mount. For well-nigh six weeks, the people had seen 
nothing of Moses. They had been emancipated from 
Egyptian bondage ; but they were still enslaved by the 
idolatrous notions, which they had learned during the 
centuries of servitude. Easily forgetting, therefore, the 
second commandment, which they had so recently heard 
from the Almighty’s own mouth, they sought from Aaron 
some visible symbol of the God, who had brought them 
out of the land of Egypt. This was the form of their 
idolatry — a breach of the second, rather than of the first, 
commandment. They did not purpose to dethrone Je- 
hovah, but to worship Him through an intervening sym- 
bol. This also was the sin of Jeroboam (1 Kings xii. 
28), as distinguished from the sin of Ahab (1 Kings xvi. 
31). The first broke the second commandment; the 
second broke the first. The practical effect, however, 
upon the people was the same in both cases. They for- 
got God, and served their graven images. It was so also 


6 4 


Companion Characters. 


in the earlier instance recorded in this episode in the 
life of Aaron. The people sat down to eat and drink, 
and rose up to play. They shrank from the presence of 
a pure, sin-hating God ; and by this happy device, con- 
trived ostensibly to help them come near to Him, they 
had succeeded in putting Him far away. And so they 
had a grand time of mirth and jollity. Feasting and 
revelry marked the worship of this god of their imagi- 
nation. 

We can hardly doubt how Moses would have received 
this request of the people for some visible representation 
of the great and dreadful Jehovah. But the trial brings 
to light the weakness of Aaron’s character. He had 
been accustomed to rely upon the stronger Moses, rath- 
er than upon the arm of the Almighty ; and so when 
his support is gone, he is easily overcome. He yields 
to the temptation, presented by the clamorous multi- 
tude, and falls. And in his fall, he brings the wrath of 
God upon the congregation of Israel. 

A remarkable feature of this temptation and fall of 
Aaron is the fact that he failed in the one direction in 
which his strength lay. We can not imagine that more 
than once in a life, so long even as Aaron’s, is there 
afforded so grand a field and opportunity for the display 
of eloquence, as now lay before the elder brother. Surely, 
in the solitude of the desert, before the grand mountains, 
and especially in the presence of yon cloud-capped, flam- 
ing summit, the voice, which has charmed the princes of 
Egypt, while yet it thwarted their nefarious designs, will 
now be heard in trumpet tones dissuading the people 
from idolatry ! All the conditions of powerful .oratory 


Moses and Aaron. 


65 


are present — a grand theme, a momentous crisis, a vast 
audience, and a sublime end — but the tongue of the 
orator is dumb. God had said to him, — “ I know that 
he can speak well but he has nothing to say for the 
God who thus commended him to his hesitating, stam- 
mering brother. Aaron fails in the most critical moment 
of his life — on the field of his greatest powers ! 

The fall of Aaron may be taken as an illustration of a 
general law in the defection of God’s people ; — they 
nearly always fail, each in the point in which he is 
strongest. The great sin of the truthful and trusting 
Abraham was prevarication, that grew out of unbelief 
in the Divine care. It was the pure-minded David who 
committed adulter^. It was the brave, intrepid Peter, 
who, from shameless cowardice, denied his Lord. So 
the eloquent Aaron is dumb in the very arena of all his 
former triumphs. Paul says, — “ When I am weak, then 
am I strong.” With every Christian it is equally true, — 
“When I am strong, then am I weak.” We are never 
so near our overthrow, as when we think we are but- 
tressed with all possible forces of our spirit against the 
assaults of our enemies. In the Christian warfare, he is 
the mightiest who is conscious that in himself he is 
“perfect weakness,” and who seeks help from one might- 
ier and stronger than he. 

Aaron needs Moses, and Moses appears. Like a blast 
of north wind among the balmy but enervating breezes, 
he comes suddenly down from the holy mount, to tone 
up the laxity of life among the people. Before that 
blast the sickliest plants are bound to die. The remain- 
der shall begin a new and healthier life. The eloquent 


66 


Companion Characters. 


Aaron is silent and ashamed ; but the stammering Moses 
has found a mighty and decisive tongue. And the new- 
born nation, heading to the ruin of idolatry, is turned 
and saved. How quickly and with what vigorous meas- 
ures it was done ! God sent him hastily out of His 
presence ; and he hurried down with the young man 
Joshua into the camp of the revellers. “ What a scene 
to Moses ! How is his soul fired with holy indignation ! 
He casts to the earth the two tablets and breaks them 
at the foot of the mount. Next, he demolishes the 
calf ; grinds it to powder ; mixes it with water and com- 
pels the people to drink it. A million of men are in dis- 
may before him — all powerless to resist. He turns to 
Aaron, his elder brother, to rebuke him. Aaron’s de- 
fense is both tame and lame, as that of a man thoroughly 
ashamed of himself. ‘ Thou knowest the people, bent 
on mischief. They besought me to make them a calf ; 
I told them to bring forward their gold ; they did so. 
I threw it into the fire — and the calf made itself.’”* 
Then follows speedily the solemn separation between 
the friends of God and Moses, and those who would still 
cleave to idolatry. And thus, with the dire work of 
judgment and punishment, the sin of the people and the 
sad results of Aaron’s fall are turned away. 

Immediately after this tragic event in Israel’s history, 
Aaron is consecrated as the high-priest of his people. 
It was a singular and suggestive sequence of events. 
After his fall, in which he was followed by so many, he 
is restored to the Divine favor, and henceforth estab* 


* “ The Pentateuch,” ut supra , p. 345. 


Moses and Aaron. 


67 


lished as the official mediator and intercessor of his err- 
ing brethren. In the earthly life of our Lord there is a 
suggestive parallel. And both this and that are marvel- 
lous exhibitions of His forgiving and restoring mercy. It 
was the brave Peter who failed through cowardice. But 
the Lord helped him up. And, in a scene of inimitable 
pathos and tenderness, we behold the Chief Shepherd 
restoring the fallen Apostle to his place as the shepherd 
of His lambs and His sheep. Who so fitted to strength- 
en his brethren as one who has himself experienced the 
power of temptation ! Thus was Aaron restored. The 
tongue that was silent in the Lord’s behalf before the 
people, is Divinely chosen to speak in behalf of the peo- 
ple before the Lord. 

While we marvel at the grace of God as thus exhib- 
ited, let us remember that it is God’s grace, not man’s, 
that does this. It is God’s prerogative to restore to his 
place the fallen leader. By man he may not be put back 
in the teacher’s place. He who once has led and taught 
in Israel, and has fallen, may be forgiven by both God 
and man upon repentance and reformation, and be num- 
bered again among the believing hosts ; but it is one of 
the rarest of all rare things that the Church of God may 
safely venture to recommission him as a leader of the 
people. If God does it, let us acknowledge it and be 
thankful, but we may well shrink from taking such a 
solemn matter into our own hands. 

This fall of Aaron suggests another and final scene in 
the contrasted lives of these Levite brothers, viz. — 


68 


Companion Characters. 


IV . — The failure before the Rock in Kadesh . 

Well-nigh forty years have passed away since the fall 
of Aaron at the foot of the holy mount. But four per- 
sons remain of them that were men when they left the 
bondage in Egypt. The long journey of the wilderness 
was almost ended. In a little while they were to enter 
the land of Canaan. Over that gloomy period in Israel’s 
history the inspired penman has thrown the veil of an 
absolute silence. What took place, how they lived, and 
where they journeyed, — of these things we know nothing. 
We can well imagine that it was a period of great trial 
to the leaders of the people. And, in proportion as 
the burden of caring for the multitude increased, so 
doubtless grew their longings for the rest of the land of 
promise. In like manner, as they approached the goal 
of their hopes, how high those hopes must have risen, 
and with what commanding power must they have dom- 
inated their whole nature ! They were so near the end ! 
The day of toil would soon be over ! What joyful an- 
ticipations must have been theirs ! 

So they came to Kadesh. They were near the land 
of promise, but painfully the people realized that they 
were yet in the wilderness. “ The soul of the people 
was much discouraged because of the way.” They were 
the children of a rebellious generation. And they in- 
herited the complaining spirit of their fathers. They 
were ready to perish with thirst, and no cooling fount- 
ains yet opened in their paths. They were journeying 
over a barren, arid, burning desert. They forgot the 
God who had led them forty years. They remembered 


Moses and Aaron. 


69 


not His many mercies to them in the past. And with 
unreasoning petulance, the multitude once more break 
out in murmuring against God and their leaders. There 
was an unusual bitterness in their complaints. They 
even wished they had died with their brethren who fell 
under the just displeasure of the Almighty. 

It was under these circumstances that Moses and 
Aaron were commanded to bring water out of the rock 
for the perishing people. And here they sinned them- 
selves against God ; and sinned so grievously that the 
Lord, who had helped them and borne with them for so 
many years, now tells them they can never enter the 
land of promise. 

We can not do better than seriously reflect upon the 
nature of this sin of Israel's leaders, while we seek to 
impress deeply upon our minds its causes and conse- 
quences. 

The sin of Israel’s chosen and long-tried leaders is 
thus well described by a recent commentator, — “ This 
unreasonable and even cruel reflection of the people 
upon Moses stirred his indignation, excited him unduly, 
and his anger found expression in ill-advised words from 
his lips. The Lord had told him to take Aaron his 
brother, to gather the people together before the rock, 
and then speak to the rock before their eyes, and it 
should give forth water. When the eventful moment 
came, Moses, instead of saying, ‘Ye have sinned against 
the Lord your God, yet in His mercy He will give you 
rivers of water from this rock upon the word of com- 
mand from His servant,’ said, as in the record, ‘ Hear 
now, ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this 


70 


Companion Characters. 


rock ? * In circumstances where man should be nothing 
and God all in all — man only a consciously unworthy 
instrument, and God the Supreme and ever to be hon- 
ored Power — it was one of the saddest infirmities of the 
best of men to put himself so prominently forward, and 
thrust the Great God so ungratefully into the back- 
ground. Then, moved by the same excited passion, 
instead of speaking to the rock, he smote it with his 
rod, not once only, but twice. Yet the Lord did not 
rebuke him with failure, but despite of his bad spirit, 
gave forth water abundantly. The rebuke upon both 
Moses and Aaron came shortly after in the form of an 
absolute prohibition upon their entering the land of 
promise. They had so dishonored the Lord in this case 
at Kadesh, that He must needs express His disapproba- 
tion by denying to both of them the long-desired con- 
summation of entering the goodly land.”* 

The sin of Moses was like Aaron’s at Mt. Sinai. It 
was a failure in his strongest point. The meekest of 
men here gives way to an ungovernable passion. He, 
who for many years had been so forgetful of himself ; 
who had again and again refused to let Jehovah destroy 
Israel that he might make of his own descendants a 
great nation ; who had cared so little for his own place 
and authority, that he could wish all the Lord’s people 
were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit 
upon them — such a man we find here, with a self-asser- 
tion that surprises us, putting himself and his brother 
forward, as if they were the Source of Israel’s blessings, 


* “The Pentateuch,” ut supra , pages 226-227. 


Moses and Aaron. 


7 1 


and leaving the Mighty God altogether out of the ac- 
count. And we are ready to say, Can this be the Moses 
whom we have known for forty years as the most un- 
selfish and lowly of men ? 

We may well ask, as we are immediately prompted to 
do, What was the cause of this failure at Kadesh ? And 
the reason is not difficult to discover. It was evidently 
a want of watchfulness. And it grew chiefly out of the 
fact that they were so near the end of their journey. 
They had walked long and carefully before the Lord. 
They had been so tried by the murmurings and impa- 
tience of the people for so many years, that now it 
seemed as if they could stand anything. So near the 
end of so long a way, and so tested and approved 
through many years, it is not likely that anything else 
can ever overcome us. This was doubtless their thought, 
and under its seductive power they relaxed their watch- 
fulness. And just here, while they were off guard, the 
enemy found them and overthrew them. 

The lesson should not be lost upon us. Our own times, 
and possibly our own experiences, furnish parallel in- 
stances of grievous failures just as the end is drawing 
nigh. Congratulating ourselves upon having made so 
much of the journey in safety, upon having proved 
faithful to our trust thus far, and being joyfully ani- 
mated with the near prospect of entering into our rest ; 
so occupied and so easily puffed up, before we are aware 
of it the enemy has thrown his seductive toils around 
us, and we have fallen. With watchful eye and firmest 
step we have walked the entire way, only to trip and 
fall at the end. 


7 2 


Companion Characters. 


The consequences of this sin of Moses and Aaron are 
exceedingly mournful. They are shut out of Canaan. 
The halting, murmuring, sinning host whom they have 
led, and with whom they have borne for forty years, go 
over the Jordan and enter into the land of their love 
and desire ; but the leaders must die in the wilderness. 
“ If the Lord’s rebuke of Moses seem severe, let it be 
considered that his sin was very great because he had 
been admitted into so near communion with God — such 
communion as had never been granted to any other 
man. If the guilt of sin be as the light sinned against, 
we are not likely to overestimate the guilt of his. The 
Lord speaks of it as rebellion (Num. xxvii. 14). And 
manifestly his sin was so public as well as so flagrant, 
that it became vital to the honor of God’s name and 
government to rebuke it unmistakably.”* 

The exclusion from Canaan was a sore sorrow to 
Moses, and no doubt to his older brother. Most pa- 
thetically does Israel’s leader plead with God for a re- 
versal of the sentence. But God would not grant it, 
nor would He suffer him to ask it any more. The sin 
of these brothers was forgiven, but the consequences 
were inevitable. Their case is but one of many illustra- 
tions of the fact that, as to its results, our sin is often 
“ written with a pen of iron and with the point of a dia- 
mond, and is graven in the rock forever.” The most 
terrible wound may be healed ; but the terrible scar will 
still remain, an unremovable token of the fierce contest. 

The leaders of Israel were forgiven and accepted with 


* “ The Pentateuch,” ut supra , page 227. 


Moses and Aaron. 


7 3 


God. They were honored for what they had done, but 
it is plain that their work is done. They drop from the 
history. The planting of Israel in the land of prom- 
ise goes on, as certainly and as well, as if Moses and 
Aaron were at the head of the Lord’s host. Joshua 
and Eleazer shall do what their fathers failed to accom- 
plish. The Israelites go over Jordan; but Moses and 
Aaron find their sepulchres in the mountains of the wil- 
derness. The sun of their earthly lives goes grandly 
down. But he sinks behind the darkness of a cloud- 
cast horizon. 


4 


IV. 


BALAK AND BALAAM. 

B ALAK and Balaam stand in wide contrast with 
Moses and Aaron. Our examination of the lat- 
ter theme led us to trace the life and character, the 
trainings and trials, the failures and falls, and the way 
and work of two of God’s eminent saints. That study 
was to little purpose, if it did not convince us that the 
leaders of Israel were taught and led and perfected by 
the gracious influences of the Infinite Spirit. And, in- 
deed, there is no more interesting study, at any time, 
than to follow, through all its diversified characteristics, 
the working of the Divine Spirit in the hearts and lives 
of the children of God. To be able to lift the veil which 
covers any human life, and mark the foot-prints of the 
Holy Spirit as He comes to the heart in transforming 
power, and then to observe His operation, as with 
varied natural, spiritual, and providential instrumentali- 
ties, He carries forward His blessed work to its perfect 
end ; — this is no small privilege. And to every pious 
mind this is one of the principal charms of Scripture 
Biography — noting the progress of the Spirit’s work, 
when the subject of the story is a servant of God. 

( 74 ) 


Balak and Balaam. 


75 


But, on the other hand, it is a melancholy duty, but 
not for that reason any less necessary, to mark the deal- 
ings of the Spirit of God with those, who in the end are 
revealed as rejecting Kis gracious influences and perish- 
ing among His enemies. Such a duty now devolves 
upon us, as we seek to analyze somewhat the two char- 
acters, which form the subject of our present study. 
The most valuable lessons of this story are those which 
emphasize the presence and influences of the Spirit of 
God in the hearts of two wicked men ; who yet chose 
to remain obdurate and impenitent, and so to perish. 

The children of Moab, descendants of righteous Lot, 
were not doomed to destruction in the overthrow of the 
accursed Canaanites. But Balak, their king, chose to set 
himself in opposition to the tribes of Israel — perhaps, as 
Edom, resisting their passage through his territory, as 
they journeyed to their promised inheritance. He had 
heard of the wonderful achievements of these wandering 
tribes ; and he knew that they could not have accom- 
plished these things without the help of some superhu- 
man power. He believed in such powers. And realizing 
his inability to cope with the mysterious forces, which 
were helping Israel, in his own unaided human strength, 
he determined to secure for his side of the conflict also 
the help of some other superhuman power. “ He under- 
stood well that the strength of Israel lay in the strength 
of her God. There was miracle there — superhuman aid 
coming in from a higher Power ; and he had no idea of 
anything which he could bring into the field against this 
save the most potent divination and magic.” * 

* Dr. Henry Cowles on “ The Pentateuch,” p. 365. 


;6 


Companion Characters. 


For this reason he sent for Balaam. This man was 
unquestionably endowed with extraordinary wisdom and 
knowledge. He was held in high repute as one in whom 
dwelt “the spirit of the holy gods.’' His fame was wide- 
spread. Men believed that he possessed occult and won- 
drous powers, and that his' blessings were blessings in- 
deed, and that his curses were curses indeed. And, as 
a matter of fact, he was honored of the true God to 
make known His will to men — perhaps in instances of 
which the Sacred Record is silent — certainly to Balak, 
the king of Moab, in the emergency which he and his 
people are now called upon to confront. And so the 
king sends for the prophet, with an urgency that will 
take no refusal. Twice the ambassadors of Balak bow 
at the feet of the lordly prophet. With his earnest en- 
treaties they are commissioned to bear from the king 
his smoothest words and greatest promises. With a 
graphic pen the sacred writer makes us see all these 
allurements of the royal suppliant loftily spurned, and 
yet after all eagerly accepted. In this fact we find our 
first lesson from these related characters. Both were 
bad men. Both were bent on accomplishing, each his 
own end. Most vividly does their conduct illustrate — 


/. — Fair Speech and Foul Life. 

Israel was overcome by Moab. But the tribes of the 
Lord were not conquered by force of arms. They were 
led astray by the seductive wiles of adversaries in the 
guise of friends — of whom they could have used the 
language of the Psalmist in a later age, — “ The words of 
his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his 


Balak and Balaam. 


77 


heart : his words were softer than oil, yet were they 
drawn swords.” In this assault upon Israel, character- 
ized at once by flattering speech and murderous intent, 
the leaders were Balak and Balaam. They were worthy 
partners in this bloodless, but unholy war. They had 
fitted themselves for it by a long process of preparatory 
training. When they seduced Israel, it was not the first 
time they had united fair speech with a godless purpose. 

We see the sinful alliance in Balak, on his first appear- 
ance in the story. With the desperation of a cowardly 
spirit he is determined to destroy Israel. Therefore he 
sends for Balaam. He cared naught for the false prophet. 
If Balaam had stood in the way of his wicked life, he 
would not have hesitated to destroy him. But, because 
he would accomplish an unholy end, and could use Ba- 
laam in doing it, he stops not with any words of flattery. 
Knowing the character of the man whose help he solic- 
its, his first message magnifies the part which the prophet 
is to perform in the overthrow of his enemies. Most 
artfully does he extol the efficacy of Balaam’s curses. 
They are indispensable to his purpose. He must come 
and bring them with him. “For I wot that he whom 
thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is 
cursed.” Balak probably sincerely believed this. But 
his present expression of his faith was nevertheless, to 
the last degree, artful and flattering. His heart was 
bent on a foul crime ; and he scruples not to use any 
instrumentality in order to accomplish it. So, too, in 
his second embassy to the Seer, still persisting in his 
diabolical purpose, he would gain his end by magnificent 
promises to the man whose help he needs. “ I will pro- 


78 


Companion Characters. 


mote thee unto very great honor, and I will do whatso- 
ever thou sayest unto me.” He urgently solicits the 
prophet’s curses upon his enemies by the same kind of 
indefinite but magnificent allurements. “Am I not able 
indeed to promote thee to honor?” And, when at last 
he fails of his purpose, he spurns the intractable tool of 
his wrath, still artfully pointing the false prophet to the 
reward, which he was suffering to slip out of his fingers. 
“ I thought to promote thee unto great honor ; but, lo, 
the Lord hath kept thee back from honor.” 

But the king can not compare with the prophet, in 
the use of fine words, with which to cover a sinful life. 
It is a notable fact that we have from the lips of Balaam 
some of the noblest utterances to be found anywhere in 
the Holy Scriptures. None of God’s servants has given 
us a clearer statement of the unchanging truthfulness of 
Jehovah, than Balaam gives to the king of Moab, when 
he says, — “ God is not a man, that he should lie ; neither 
the son of man that he should repent : hath he said, and 
shall he not do it ? or hath he spoken, and shall he not 
make it good?” Nowhere else than in the mouth of 
Balaam do we find more just and lofty conceptions of 
the duty of God’s messengers. It is the false prophet, 
who says, — “ If Balak would give me his house full of 
silver and gold, I can not go beyond the word of the 
Lord my God, to do less or more.” From him again, 
comes the word, — “ Have I now any power at all to say 
anything? the word that God putteth in my mouth, that 
shall I speak.” Still again, with an unclouded view of 
his duty, he says, — “ Must I not take heed to speak that 
which the Lord hath put into my mouth ? ” And yet, 


Balak and Balaam. 


79 


once more, meeting the remonstrances of the king, he 
cries, — “ I can not go beyond the commandment of the 
Lord, to do either good or bad of my own mind ; but 
what the Lord saith, that will I speak.” Nobler utter- 
ances than these as to this subject it would be difficult for 
us to find, even in the Bible. Nor must we forget that 
it is to Balaam that we owe that well-worded wish, which 
has been the sincere prayer of multitudes of the pious 
in all ages, — “Let me die the death of the righteous, 
and let my last end be like his.” To the prophet of 
Midian also was vouchsafed that wonderful vision of 
Messiah’s day — a golden link in the chain of Messianic 
prophecy, that stretches from the garden of Eden to the 
garden of Calvary, — “ I shall see him, but not now ; I 
shall behold him, but not nigh : there shall come a Star 
out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and 
shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the chil- 
dren of Sheth.” 

It is evident from these quotations, that both the king 
of Moab and the prophet of Midian were adepts in the 
use of beautiful words. They could talk smoothly enough. 
But they were both bad men. Of this there is no man- 
ner of doubt. The judgment of the Scriptures upon the 
character of Balaam especially, is one of unmitigated 
severity. The lesson of this feature of these two char- 
acters is obvious and of great importance. Pious talk 
-and a bad life are perfectly compatible, and their con- 
junction is by no means of rare occurrence. But wher- 
ever they are found together, we shall discover a thor- 
oughly rotten character. When a man can bring himself 
to veil his real and unholy purposes under the covering of 


8o 


Companion Characters. 


artful and smooth and flattering words, he has reached the 
last and awful stage of degeneracy known as hypocrisy, 
and from which recovery is ever exceedingly improbable. 

But hypocrisy is the last step of a downward progress. 
The degeneracy begins further back. Perhaps one of 
the first indications of the presence of this spiritual poi- 
son is the being satisfied with mere emotion,* without 
any corresponding action — luxuriating in good feelings 
without any reference to their relations to, or influence 
upon, good conduct. Following this by slow processes 
comes the possibility of giving utterance to the finest 
sentiments in the fairest speech, when the thought ex- 
pressed takes no hold of the spiritual nature of him who 
speaks. So, by constant deterioration, we reach at last 
the low point of the bad king and false prophet, where 
for a foul end we are willing and deliberately purpose to 
cloak our aims under the beautiful covering of the fair- 
est words. “ In all labor there is profit : but the talk of 
the lips tendeth only to penury.” 

Another truth, illustrated and made especially em- 
phatic by this episode in the history of Israel’s wander- 
ings, is this — 

II . — The Impossibility of Neutrality. 

This position of neutrality, as between the service of 
God on the one hand, and the service of the world on 
the other, was the attitude which Balaam desired to oc- 
cupy. From what has been said, it is evident that he 
was a very gifted man. In mental endowments and 
spiritual gifts, he was far in advance of his generation. 
Nor was he destitute of lofty aspirations. He was not 


Balak and Balaam. 


81 


always the prey of evil passions. At times doubtless, in 
the utterance of his fine sentiments, he was sincere, and 
mightily swayed in the direction of holiness and good- 
ness. There may have been, in his heart, at all times, 
a vague and inoperative desire and purpose to do what 
was right. So, when a definite line of duty was laid be- 
fore him, from which evil powers were seeking to swerve 
him, his mind was divided. He wanted to keep on the 
line, and yet wanted to turn aside. 

This is the key to the enigmas of his conduct in rela- 
tion to the king of Moab. Balaam would serve God, 
the Jehovah of Israel; but he wanted Balak’s money 
and honors. The narrative makes it perfectly plain that 
the king understood the man he was dealing with. In 
his first embassy to seek the help of the prophet, he is 
careful to send, not only a joint commission of the eld- 
ers of Moab and Midian, but also with them “the re- 
wards of divination in their hand.” It is evident from 
this that Balaam had made a trade of his endowments, 
and this fact had become widely known. Extraordina- 
rily gifted with intellectual abilities and foresight, he 
had acquired, what is far more perilous to any man, a 
great reputation for sanctity of character and the most 
intimate relations to Jehovah. For this reason his bless- 
ings and curses were so much sought after. He had 
made a merchandise of his holy things, prostituting his 
noble gifts to his passion for the gold that perishes. 
His master sin was covetousness. He loved “the wages 
of unrighteousness.” And this master passion had 
grown by what it fed on, until it carried him away to 
the gulf of perdition. 

4 * 


82 


Companion Characters. 


But through all the growth of this devouring sin, as 
detailed in the sacred story, it is still in Balaam’s mind 
to serve the Lord — if he can do so, and yet not displease 
Balak. His entire history is an illustration of his fruit- 
less endeavors to accomplish this double end. That his- 
tory, therefore, is full of inconsistencies and contradic- 
tions. We see him loftily refusing, and even contempt- 
uously spurning, the gold of Moab. But all the time 
his heart is eagerly craving that money ; and it is his 
firm but secret purpose to secure it, at whatever price. 
It is not necessary for us to believe that Balaam was in- 
sincere in rejecting the offered reward, which yet we find 
that he did afterward actually accept. It explains all 
the phases of his conduct to suppose that he was power- 
fully swayed by two opposing principles — the desire to 
do right, and the love of money. 

This instability of his mind, moved hither and thither 
by these conflicting powers, explains another contradic- 
tory phase of his history. Nobody knew more clearly, 
or ever said more plainly, that Jehovah was an unchange- 
able God. And yet we see Balaam acting as if he ex- 
pected, or at least hoped, that God would change His 
mind,' and let him do what he wanted to do, and must 
do, if he would gain the wealth and honors which he 
coveted. God had told him, in unmistakable terms, 
that he should not go with the messengers of Moab. 
Yet we find him, on the arrival of the second embassy, 
temporizing and halting. With most emphatic words, 
he declares he can not, even for a house full of money, 
go beyond the word of the Lord. And that word he 
had already received. But immediately after we hear 


Balak and Balaam. 


83 

him asking the ambassadors to wait another night. Per- 
haps the Lord will, after all, let him do what they de- 
sired of him. 

The “ double-minded man is unstable in all his ways 
and the words explain the conduct of the false prophet. 
It seemed so right to him, and so desirable to do the 
will of God, and to have that God for his friend. But, 
alas ! how can he let these riches and honors slip 
through his fingers ! His eyes all the time are on that 
money. Even the emphasis with which he spurns it 
shows his love for it. As no man is so willing to swear 
that he speaks the truth as the habitual and unscrupu- 
lous liar, so no one more indignantly spurns the offered 
bribe than he whose hands are aching to clasp it and 
carry it away. This was Balaam. Miserable and un- 
happy man ! 

How full of warning is his example ! He has many 
followers among men, even in our day. They wish to 
serve the true God ; but they will serve their own gods. 
The double end they can not attain. The effort is vain. 
Their lives are bundles of contradictions. They are full 
of a world of unhappiness. No man can serve two mas- 
ters. “Ye can not serve God and Mammon.” Sooner or 
later, every man will be found on the one side or the 
other, with only a life of pain for trying to stride the 
line between the service of the Lord and the service of 
the world. 

Balaam, like all such double-minded, halting souls, 
was at last found unmistakably on the wrong side. The 
story of his connection with the king of Moab traces 
only the downward progress, for this is the important 


8 4 


Companion Characters. 


thing for us to consider. And the historian enables us 
to follow the steps by which the unstable prophet went 
from one low level to another still lower, hastening ever 
downward with an accelerating rapidity. But the writer 
does not choose to dwell upon the final and awful catas- 
trophe. Only, as it were incidentally, do we learn that 
Balaam perished with the enemies of God and Israel. 

The effort to be on both sides ended as it always does. 
The contest in the soul of the prophet of Midian, be- 
tween truth and conscience on the one side, and the 
love of money and worldly honors on the other, ended 
in a victory for the powers of evil. “We can not well 
suppress a feeling of sadness that one so gifted by nat- 
ure and so favored of God with prophetic revelations, 
should, despite of all, have yet succumbed to the do- 
minion of the baser impulses of his soul. His final rec- 
ord is dark and distressing. 4 He taught Balak to cast a 
stumbling-block before the children of Israel,’ and drew 
them into idolatry and fornication (Rev. ii. 14, and Num. 
25). He cast in his lot with the Midianites, and (appar- 
ently) counseled them into the same infernal policy. 
Hence, when the Lord in self-defence hurled down the 
sword of His people upon Midian and five of her kings 
fell, Balaam, the son of Beor, also was slain (Num. xxxi. 
1-8). Thus he who so plaintively yet so pertinently 
prayed, 4 Let me die the death of the righteous,’ met 
the death of the wicked. He had seen reason enough for 
the prayer : 4 Let my last end be like his ’; and yet he 
4 died as the fool dieth ’ — in arms against Almighty God. 
While in imagination and intellect he might have taken 
rank with the noblest of earth’s sons, yet through the 


Balak and Balaam. 


85 


baseness of his impulses and the greed of a covetous 
soul, he chose his rank among the meanest, and utterly 
missed the immortality which seemed at one moment 
so nearly in his grasp. For a while God held him to the 
utterance of lofty thought, and apparently of pure and 
resolute purpose. But no sooner was the Lord’s re- 
straining hand lifted off than Balaam slumped into the 
mire of his selfish, covetous nature, and went fast * to 
his own place.’ ”* He, who for many years would have 
men think of him as a saint, perished at last among 
sinners. 

Another truth, often overlooked, yet of vast moment, 
and significantly illustrated in the lives and experiences 
of Balak and Balaam, is summed up in the words, 

III . — Unavailing Spiritual Influences . 

Why did not God permit Balaam to comply with 
Balak’s wishes and suffer him to curse Israel ? No one 
can dwell long upon this unique history without con- 
fronting this question. The adequate answer to it will 
probably lead the inquirer farther than he suspects. We 
can hardly imagine that the prohibition was laid upon 
the prophet, because his curses would or could have any 
unfavorable effect upon the children of Israel. God 
permitted Shimei to curse David. But this was in Da- 
vid’s hearing ; and the curses of the wicked Benjamite 
were well calculated to humble the king, and to lead 
him to recognize, as he did, the hand of God in his 
afflictions. But the curses of Balaam were to be ut- 


* “ The Pentateuch,” ut supra , pages 373-4- 


86 


Companion Characters. 


tered afar off, and apparently without being known to 
those upon whom they were to be pronounced. Of 
what avail, then, were they ? And, even if it became 
known to the tribes of the Lord that they were resting 
under the maledictions of the far-famed prophet of 
Midian, it does not seem probable that they would be 
very much disturbed by the fact. 

If, then, no evil could result to His chosen people 
from Balaam’s curses, why did not the Lord let him 
curse ? Was there any object to be gained, in exerting 
a Divine restraining power upon the wicked prophet, to 
cause him to bless rather than to curse ? That there 
was some wise and holy purpose to be accomplished by 
it we can not doubt. But we may not be able to fathom 
the depths of that purpose. We are safe, however, in 
saying, that a large part of the object of this Divine re- 
straint of the prophet must be sought, and will be found, 
in the natural and probable effect of the prohibition upon 
the mind of the king of Moab. While we note the mani- 
fest guidance of the children of Israel by the Infinite 
Spirit, we must not overlook the fact that He was work- 
ing in the hearts of other peoples also. The king of 
Moab had not yet reached the point already occupied 
by the accursed Canaanites, when the Spirit of God 
should finally forsake him and his people. But he was 
rapidly approaching the limits of the Divine forbearance. 
It is a well-established fact that God, before He leaves 
the soul forever, does often, if not usually, concenter 
many most powerful spiritual influences upon that soul, 
if at length he may resolve to turn and live. 

There is no reason why we may not believe that God 


Balak and Balaam. 


87 


was so dealing with the king of Moab. He was deal* 
ing with Balak in the way of enlightenment, while He 
waited for him, “ that He might be gracious unto him 
or, if he persisted in blinding his eyes to the light, that 
he might be left utterly without excuse. It is not diffi- 
cult to trace this merciful course of the Divine Spirit in 
the prohibition laid upon Balaam. Its voice to Balak 
was something like this, — ‘You believe in superhuman 
powers. Therefore you have sent for Balaam to help 
you by cursing Israel. You know your man, and under- 
stand perfectly that he wishes to do as you say, and so 
secure your reward. And yet he can not curse my peo- 
ple. A Divine power holds him in firm restraint, and 
he must do as he is bidden to do by a power mightier 
than his own imperious lusts. Here, then, is a supernat- 
ural, superhuman Power ; this you know. Will you not 
bow before it, and cease to war upon the Almighty Je- 
hovah ? That Power would bless you. You see how 
the curses are turned into blessings. Can you be in 
doubt, then, as to the character of that power which 
restrains Balaam from .executing your cruel behest ? It 
is a benevolent supernatural Power that wishes you well, 
and would make you the monument of mercy rather 
than of wrath. Yield to its gracious influence ; and, 
while yet you may, flee from the impending doom.’ 

We see here, then, a sufficient explanation of what 
must otherwise appear an undue magnifying of the value 
and power of a wicked man’s curses. The gracious God 
was restraining Balaam, if at length His tender mercy 
might ^strain Balak. But the king of Moab set him- 
self against these intimations of Jehovah’s will. He 


88 


Companion Characters. 


yielded to the bitter and malevolent impulses of his 
nature, and hardened himself against these manifold 
Divine influences. Three times he saw the clearest 
tokens of the presence of a benign spiritual power mov- 
ing upon the prophet. But there is no softening of his 
heart under that gracious manifestation. On the con- 
trary, he repeatedly blinded himself to the truth and 
fortified himself in his rebellion. His bitter disappoint- 
ment, and the intensity with which his anger at last 
blazes forth even against Balaam, show that he is now 
ripe for destruction. His case is but one of many 
illustrations of the working of unavailing spiritual in- 
fluences. 

The student of the Gospel history will have no diffi- 
culty in tracing the parallel, in this particular, between 
Balak and Judas. Again and again does our Lord so 
speak in the presence of the traitor, as we might sup- 
pose would have turned him from his unholy purpose. 
With solemn words of warning, marked by both plain- 
ness and sternness, He tells the hardening Apostle of 
his character and impending doom. With words of in- 
finite compassion He shows Himself ready to welcome 
and save even the betrayer. But it is all without avail. 
Under the blazing light of the words and work of the 
Son of God Judas hardened himself in his iniquity, and 
at last, with an awful abandon, hurried from the hal- 
lowed scenes of the Last Supper into the outer dark- 
ness, ^nd thence speedily to “ his own place.” 

God was dealing with Balaam also, with spiritual 
forces that proved unavailing. The Divine procedure, 
in the case of the prophet, however, was after a different 


Balak and Balaam. 


89 


manner. God was dealing with a different kind of a man 
— one perhaps just as bad as the king of Moab, but one 
in whom wickedness took on a different character. God 
deals honestly with the honest ; but He leaves the in- 
sincere to “ eat of the fruit of their own ways, and to be 
filled with their own devices.” His method with Ba- 
laam was after the description of the Psalmist, who thus 
portrays God’s way of dealing with men, — “ With the 
merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful ; with an up- 
right man thou wilt show thyself upright ; with the pure 
thou wilt show thyself pure ; and with the froward thou 
wilt show thyself froward.” The false prophet dealt 
deceitfully with God, and God dealt deceitfully with 
him, in the sense that He suffered him to be misguided 
and finally destroyed by his own deceitfulness. At first, 
He told him plainly that he should not go with the 
messengers of the king of Moab. But when, at length, 
instead of a frank and implicit obedience, Balaam acted 
out his desire to see the will of God in another light 
more pleasing to himself, God permitted him to have 
his own way. God left him to feel that he was Divinely 
guided, when, as a matter of fact, he was led by “ his 
own cupidity and intense and overmastering covetous- 
ness.” But did not God permit Balaam ultimately to 
go with Balak’s messengers ? He permitted it, purpos- 
ing in the permission to test and disclose the true char- 
acter of Balaam. But the mind of God was unques- 
tionably that the prophet should not have anything to 
do with the solicitations of the king. 

So, in all the subsequent scenes of this story, it is evi- 
dent that God is dealing with a deceitful and insincere 


90 


Companion Characters. 


man in such a way that he need not go astray, if he 
wishes to do right, and yet shall not be compelled 
against his will to refrain from doing wrong. The sug- 
gestive fact, then, in the experiences of both Balak and 
Balaam, is that here there were spiritual influences 
thrown around them, sufficient to have guided them 
aright and saved them, if only they had been responsive 
to their power. 

God still deals with men after the same manner. The 
common, and, as we say, ineffectual operations of the 
Spirit of God are much more widely extended than per- 
haps we imagine. That they do prove unavailing is 
painfully evident in the case of multitudes. That they 
are sufficient to lead them on in the path of light, and, if 
responded to in the spirit of loving and teachable obe- 
dience, to bring them to salvation, we are authorized by 
the examples of the Scriptures to believe. But, on the 
other hand, if these beginnings of the work of spiritual 
forces in the heart and life are resisted and quenched, 
the soul becomes hardened by that which has a gracious 
tendency, and the impenitent and obdurate spirit per- 
ishes without hope. From the whole character of God’s 
dealings with such men, after it may be the lapse of 
years, it becomes painfully, but unmistakably evident, 
that, in His infinite compassions, the Lord would ; but 
they would not. 

In explanation of this mournful result, we must con- 
sider another truth illustrated, with unusual clearness, in 
this brief story, viz. : 


Balak and Balaam. 


9i 


IV. — Searing the Conscience. 

The sacred writer, in a few brief touches, shows us this 
process of moral insensibility going on in the heart of 
both the king of Moab and the prophet of Midian. We 
see the work of hardening at different stages of advance- * 
ment in the two men ; but it is the same terrible work 
of searing the conscience in both — through stubborn 
irresponsiveness and disobedience causing the moral nat- 
ure to become more and more callous, and insensible 
alike to every holy impression and every noble impulse. 

Let us see how this searing of the conscience shows 
itself in the case of the king. After repeated endeavors 
and failures to get from the prophet the curses he wants, 
Balak is unwilling to hear any more. So long as he be- 
lieved the superhuman forces, which he thought were at 
the command of Balaam, could be enlisted on his side, 
he is ready to hear and obey. But so soon as he be- 
comes satisfied that these powers are against him, he 
wants to be done with them. So he stops the prophe- 
cies of the Midianite Seer with his imperious command, 
“Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all." God, 
as we have seen, was dealing with him in the way of en- 
lightenment, if peradventure he might be persuaded to 
cease his causeless opposition to Israel. But he was a 
worshiper of the power of money. And in this particu- 
lar instance he was encouraged in his idolatry by the 
well-known venality of Balaam. He sought, therefore, 
to purchase with gold the help of spiritual powers in his 
wicked war on the children of Israel. In this he failed. 

When his failure became evident even to his obdurate 


9 2 


Companion Characters. 


vision, instead of being humbled and brought to repent- 
ance of his sin, he blinds his eyes to the gracious charac- 
ter of the power whose help he can not secure, and re- 
fuses to see in it a message of mercy to his own soul. 
When he can not get what he wants, he wants to silence 
the oracle. God’s light he turns into darkness. When 
strains of blessing, instead of twanging curses, come 
from the minstrel’s harp, he puts his fingers in his ears. 
Sweet melodies he will not hear. 

How many of us are like the king of Moab ! So long 
as we can dwell upon promises, and cherish the hope of 
gaining something from the hand of God, we do not 
neglect going to Him ; and we are specially attentive to 
His voice in the Word, and in our secret souls. But 
when it becomes plain that God has a message of sever- 
ity for us, and of threatening for our sins, we are ready 
to shut our eyes and ears. We are no longer willing to 
see and hear. God sends us light ; but the light is not 
what we want. And so we shut it out ; or allow it to 
reach us only through such a distorted medium that it 
becomes a curse rather than a blessing. The oracle must 
speak the message we wish to hear ; or we abandon at 
once the sacred shrine, and bow henceforth before an- 
other god. 

In Balaam we have a double illustration of this 
tampering with the moral nature and the voice of con- 
science. The prophet enters upon this dangerous course, 
first, in seeking to have his duty altered. Balaam goes 
to God for direction. Was this wrong? In many cir- 
cumstances, so far from being a sin, it is just what we 
ought to do, and are commanded to do. When we are 


Balak and Balaam. 


93 


in doubt about the path of duty especially, it is our un- 
questionable privilege to ask God to show us the way. 
But this was not the case of the prophet. He knew 
perfectly what he ought to do. The will of God as to 
his relations to the messengers of Balak, the prophet 
knew veiy well. The Lord had told him expressly, — 
“ Thou shalt not go with them ; thou shalt not curse 
the people : for they are blessed.” And yet, instead of 
that sincere and single-hearted obedience to the will of 
God, which we might have looked for, we find Balaam 
acting as if he thought the Lord would change His mind, 
and let him do what he so much wanted to do. 

Alas ! how many of us are like Balaam ! We go to 
God, not to learn what our duty is, but to get it changed. 
As to the duty itself there is no manner of doubt in our 
minds ; and indeed often there can not be. But the 
duty is distasteful to us. We dwell upon its unpleasant 
features. We try to see them not only unpleasant, but 
improper ; and as the final result of our reflections, we 
come to think that it is not our duty at all, and that we 
were mistaken. So, for want of singleness of purpose 
to do what the Lord says, we come to be in doubt as to 
what the Lord actually does say. Second thoughts are 
not always best. The impulse to duty that comes first 
especially is generally the best. To hesitate and ques- 
tion here is almost always to go wrong. When God sees 
in us no heart to do His will, and a desire to do some- 
thing else, He usually leaves us as He left Balaam, to 
carry out our own wishes, while continually we become 
more and more befogged as to what is right and true, 
until at last even our own consciences lead us astray. 


94 


Companion Characters. 


This is the second stage of moral degeneracy, illus- 
trated by the conduct of Balaam. He blinds himself. 
He will not do what he knows to be wrong ; but he will 
nevertheless do what he wants to do, because he will 
first bring himself to believe that it is right. We have 
in Balaam, therefore, what at first thought seems to be 
an anomaly and contradiction. He is a man of perfect 
veracity, and yet of utter and unscrupulous untruthful- 
ness. Going to the king of Moab, to declare to him and 
his people the will of God, he doubtless sincerely resolves 
that he will not say what he knows is not true ; but 
under the dominance of his covetousness he purposes to 
try to see that to be true which is really and in every 
particular false. 

Here also Balaam does not stand alone. Multitudes 
of men go astray, not because they did not know the 
right way, but because they have so blinded their moral 
eyesight, that they can no longer distinguish the right 
from the wrong path. Of these it is that the proverb 
speaks, — “ There is a way that seemeth right to a man ; 
but the end thereof are the ways of death.” For exam- 
ple, there are some men engaged in the sale of intoxicat- 
ing liquors as a beverage, who, we are persuaded, could 
never have brought themselves to enter or continue in 
such a business, except through a blinding process — by 
which they have persuaded themselves it is not so bad 
as they at one time believed it to be. Oppressive land- 
lords also blind themselves to the iniquities of the man- 
agement of their properties, by committing the care of 
them to other men. And indeed, there is no more com- 
mon way of blinding the moral sensibilities than in the 


Balak and Balaam. 


95 


use of middle-men and agents. When one does not 
with his own eyes confront the iniquitous practices of 
his profession or business or trade, it is much easier for 
him to persuade himself that wrong is right, and that 
the way of death is the path of life. 

The inevitable result of this blinding process is the 
utter destruction of the moral nature, so far as possess- 
ing any power of control or guidance is concerned. 
Moral distinctions are confused. Right is wrong ; and 
wrong is right. The soul feels Divinely guided, when 
in reality it is driven by the force of its own imperious 
lusts. The light is no longer sought or recognized. As 
in the progress of disease in the eye, there comes a time 
when the sun is intolerable, so it is here. The light 
itself blinds. That which was sent to glorify the way, 
casts a deeper darkness on the path ; and so men stumble 
and fall. 

It was so with both Balak and Balaam. Both, 
hardening themselves in impenitency, go out into the 
darkness, in the midst of the growing, glorious light. 
With His final power the Spirit of inspiration led the 
prophet to sing of the rising Star of Jacob, hence ages 
onward to be seen and followed by the wise men of the 
east to the cradle of the infant Redeemer. By the same 
Divine compulsion he celebrated the power of the Scep- 
tre which should rise out of Israel, pointing forward to 
David, the first conqueror of Moab, and through David 
onward to David’s greater Son, Messiah the Conqueror 
of the nations. It was a grand song. The king of 
Moab heard unwilling and impatient. And though a 
blaze of light from the throne of the God of Israel fell 


9 6 


Companion Characters. 


all around the prophet and the king, its only effect was 
to harden their hearts as the nether mill-stone. Light 
in glorious effulgence was there ; but they had reached 
the point where the more light the more blindness and 
darkness covered their souls and their ways. In that 
chosen darkness they perished. 

“ A Star shall break through yonder skies 
And beam on every nation’s sight ; 

From yonder ranks a Sceptre rise 
And bow the nations to its might : 

I see their glorious strength afar — 

All hail, mild Sceptre ! hail, bright Star ! 

“ And who am I, for whom is flung 
Aside the shrouding veil of time ? 

The Seer, whose rebel soul is wrung 
By wrath and prophecy and crime ; 

The future as the past I see — 

Woe, then, for Moab ! woe for me ! ” 


V. 


CALEB AND JOSHUA. 

ALEB and Joshua appear in the Sacred History 



in marked contrast with Balak and Balaam. The 


latter were notorious examples of blind unbelief and dis- 
obedience. The men whose characters we are now to 
examine, were pre-eminent illustrations of just the oppo- 
site qualities. More than any of the men of their gen- 
eration they believed and obeyed God. In an illustrious 
sense they were 


Heroes of Faith. 


And no other theme is so appropriately emphasized 
by the study of their conduct and in the comparison of 
their characters. In the progress of events Joshua rises 
far above the companion of his earlier experiences ; but 
our every view of Caleb shows him a man of such faith 
as is no more than paralleled in the life of his illustrious 
friend and leader. In a quieter life and less prominent 
place, he always appears imbued with the same lofty 
principle that distinguishes the character and life of 
Joshua. Of this we shall see more than one illustra- 
tion. 

This faith of Caleb, we shall feel, is all the more re- 
markable when we have noted some suggestive, though 


5 


( 97 ) 


9 8 


Companion Characters. 


perhaps not decisive, intimations of the Sacred Narra- 
tive as to his birth and parentage. Who was Caleb ? In 
answering this question we find that, in the genealogical 
tables of the Chronicles, Caleb is enrolled (in a some- 
what peculiar way, it is true) in the tribe of Judah. So, 
also, in the account of the appointment of the spies, in 
naming the men and the tribes they represented, it is 
said, “ Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb, the. son of Jephun- 
neh.” It would seem from these passages that there 
can hardly be a doubt that Caleb belonged to the tribe 
of Judah. Other passages, however, make it doubtful 
whether, though he belonged to Judah, his place in that 
tribe was by right of birth. In Joshua, for example 
(xv. 13), it is said, “And unto Caleb, the son of Jephun- 
neh, he gave a part among the children of Judah.” The 
words seem to imply that, though Caleb was not of Ju- 
dah, he was yet numbered among the children of Judah. 
Again, in another passage (Joshua xiv. 14), he is called 
“ Caleb, the son of Jephunneh the KeneziteJ Now we 
learn, from other places (Genesis xxxvi. 1 5 and 42 ; also 
1 Chronicles i. 53), that the Kenezites were a tribe of 
Edom, the descendants of Kenaz, the grandson of Esau. 
Again, in the passage last cited from Joshua (xiv. 14) it 
is said Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb, “ be- 
cause that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel ” — 
the implication being that he might have been expected 
to do otherwise, and to follow some other god. That 
Caleb, then, was a foreigner — a descendant of Esau — is 
extremely probable. This supposition is very much 
strengthened by the occurrence of Edomitish names in 
his family. Compare 1' Chronicles ii. 50-52, with Gene- 


Caleb and Joshua. 


99 


sis xxxvi. 20-23.* “ It becomes, therefore, quite possi- 

ble that Caleb was a foreigner by birth ; a proselyte in- 
corporated into the tribe of Judah, into which perhaps 
he or his ancestors had married, and one of the first- 
fruits of that Gentile harvest of which Jethro, Rahab, 
Ruth, Naaman, and many others, were samples and 
signs/’ He was an Israelite, though not of Israel. 

We turn now to Joshua. He was an Israelite by birth, 
of the tribe of Ephraim (1 Chron. vii. 27). He was born 
about the time Moses fled from Egypt to sojourn in the 
land of Midian. He was, therefore, a little over forty 
years of age at the time of the Exodus. He was a born 
warrior. Moses seems early to have noticed his pre- 
eminent fitness to be a military commander. He comes 
to the front first in the fight with Amalek in Rephidim, 
where Joshua led the hosts of Israel in their first battle, 
while Moses, sustained by Aaron and Hur, made inter- 
cession for his people on the top of the hill (Exodus 
xvii. 8-16). Other notices of the future commander, 
previous to his selection as one of the spies, are very 
brief, but significant. Moses had him for his minister 
when he first went up into the holy mount. He proba- 
bly went part way with Moses, and there waited for him 
(Exodus xxiv. 13). It was Joshua who first met the dis- 
missed and troubled mediator, as he came by Divine 
direction down from the sacred summit. Together they 
drew near the camp of the revelling host, and to Josh- 
ua’s military ear it seemed as if there was war in the 
camp. Moses recognized the unwonted sounds as those 


* See other references in Smith’s Bible Dictionary, sub voce Caleb. 


IOO 


Companion Characters. 


of feasting and song (Exodus xxxii. 17, 18). In the sub- 
sequent solemn work of intercession, judgment, and pun- 
ishment, Joshua went with Moses into the tabernacle, 
and there remained while his beloved leader went forth to 
plead with God and Israel (Exodus xxxiii. 1 1). Sharing 
in such scenes and duties, we are not surprised to find 
him among the twelve men appointed to spy out the 
land of Canaan. Nor do we wonder that Moses, when 
warned by the Lord of his approaching end, besought 
Jehovah for the appointment of a successor, and re- 
ceived the answer of his prayer in the direction to set 
apart Joshua to this sacred work. His character and 
training fitted him, in an unusual -measure, to take up 
the work of his failing chief and lead Israel into the 
promised land. According to Josephus, Joshua was 
eighty-five years old when he crossed the Jordan. With 
this accords the age of Caleb, who was forty years old 
when sent on the mission of the spies, and forty-five 
years afterward received his inheritance from the hand 
of Israel's leader. 

The two men are now before us. Let us study the 
few suggestive scenes in their lives in illustration of the 
theme already announced. We have here, 

I. — Faith removing Mountains . 

The mission of the spies was a singular episode in the 
wilderness wanderings. It is a much more suggestive 
story than it perhaps appears to be to the superficial 
reader. We have two accounts of the origin of the 
proposition to send the men to spy out the land. The 
first one is in Num. xiii. 1, 2, — 1 “And the Lord spake 


Caleb and Joshua. 


ioi 


unto Moses, saying,’ * Send thou men, that they may search 
the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of 
Israel.” In his rehearsal of the history nearly forty 
years later, Moses gives another account of the busi- 
ness. He says (Deut. i. 20-23), after reminding them 
how the Lord had led them, — “ And ye came near unto 
me every one of you, and said, We will send men before 
us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us 
word again by what way we must go up, and into what 
cities we shall come.” The two accounts do not seem 
to harmonize ; but the discrepancy admits of an easy 
and significant explanation. The rehearsal of the his- 
tory by Moses is more detailed, and is undoubtedly to 
be taken as supplementary to the earlier account. It is 
a parallel case with the mission of Balaam to the king 
of Moab. The Divine direction to the false prophet to 
go with the messengers of Balak was permissive, not 
mandatory. God said, Go, to a man, who, He saw, was 
bent on having his own way ; but His original command 
was that he should stay. In like manner, in the matter 
of sending the spies, God permitted the children of Israel 
to do what they themselves desired and first proposed 
to do ; but that proposition was a departure from, and 
inconsistent with, the plan of giving them their inher- 
itance through the simple exercise of faith in the Divine 
Power which had led them hitherto. The sending of 
the spies, therefore, was through Divine permission, but 
not by Divine command. Both narratives, therefore, 
are true, and consistent with each other. 

Further reflection upon the matter will convince us 
that the first conception of the idea of sending the spies 


102 


Companion Characters. 


could have arisen only from unbelief and fear. We find 
this vaguely hinted at in the narrative. The people 
-,had just come through that “ great and terrible wilder- 
ness/’ and were now on the southern borders of Canaan. 
They were weary of the way. We may well believe also 
that, as they approached the land of their enemies, they 
began to hear reports of their greatness and power. 
These filled them with dismay. Moses finds it neces- 
sary to encourage them. This he does by reminding 
them of the manifest Divine leadership through which 
they had been brought so fer on their journey, and 
closes his address with the words, which seem to have 
no little significance in illustration of their state of mind, 
“ Fear not, neither be discouraged.” The bold words 
of their leader did not rally their faith. They still bor- 
rowed trouble of their fears. They determined to verify 
or prove false the reports of the power of their enemies. 
And they seemed to believe that the mission of the spies 
would verify those reports. But they knew that Moses 
would not countenance them in anything that would 
confirm their fears or unbelief ; and so they put it on the 
ground of military expediency. “ They shall search out 
the land, and bring us word again by what way we must 
go up, and into what cities we shall come.” But the 
other account makes it evident that they wanted light 
particularly upon the subjects respecting which they 
were full of fears. Among other things, they were to “ go 
up into the mountain, and see the land, what it is ; and 
the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong 
or weak, few or many ; and what the land is that they 
dwell in, whether it be good or bad ; and what cities 


Caleb and Joshua. 103 

they be that they dwell in, whether in tents or in strong- 
holds/' 

It is evident that, to a people who sincerely and irm 
plicitly trusted in God, and sought only to walk in the 
path of single-hearted obedience, these were matters of 
no consequence whatever. The language of faith would 
have been, “ It is nothing to. the Lord to save by many 
or by few." “ If the Lord be for us who can be against 
us?" “ Greater is He that is in us than he that is in 
the world." But Israel were a people of little faith. The 
entire business of the mission of the spies was born of 
unbelief. For wise purposes God permitted it. He saw 
the people bent on this method of procedure. They 
were unanimous about it. “And ye came near unto 'me 
every one of you," says Moses, referring probably to the 
heads of the tribes. And so the Lord commanded 
Moses to do as the people wished, and directed him to 
send the spies to search out the land. 

It seemed needful to obtain an accurate understand- 
ing of the spirit of this mission of the spies, in order to 
appreciate the circumstances of their return, and espec- 
ially the heroic faith of Caleb and Joshua. After forty 
days the men came back with their report. It is to be 
remembered that they reported to the same people by 
whom they had been sent forth — as doubting and dis- 
trustful as they were six weeks before. The spies were 
divided. A majority and a minority report was laid be- 
fore the unbelieving congregation. It is, now, a notable 
circumstance that, as to all matters of fact, the two re- 
ports did not greatly differ. Both agreed as to the ex- 
traordinary fruitfulness of the land : “ It was a land 


104 


Companion Characters. 


flowing with milk and honey.” Both agreed as to the 
fact that the inhabitants of the land were powerful, and 
that the giants were there. The report of the minority 
emphasized the fruitfulness of the land, and slurred the 
presence of the Anakim. The majority report enlarged 
upon the power of their enemies, and the strength of their 
cities. Confirming thus the fears of the people, and 
perhaps encouraged by their ready credence of their 
story, they at last went further, and contradicted them- 
selves as to the fruitfulness of Canaan. Urged on by 
the unbelieving auditors before them, perhaps, they are 
now prepared to say even of the land, “ It is a land that 
eateth up the inhabitants thereof.” At any rate, this is 
plainly an afterthought ; and it does not, of course, 
accord with what they had just reported about the 
strength of the inhabitants, their stature and their power. 

The reports, then, so far as they are confined to facts, 
are substantially alike. It is chiefly the comments of 
the spies upon their reports that differ, these being col- 
ored by their faith or unbelief. The ten say, the land is 
fruitful, but our enemies are mighty. The two admit 
the presence of the giants, but see them and all others 
defenceless because forsaken of God. The ten took no 
account of God, and therefore thought that nothing 
could be done. The two, who felt that God was on 
their side, thought the conquest of Canaan would be an 
easy matter. 

Here we see a picture of faith and unbelief. And 
emphatically we see here faith removing mountains of 
difficulty from the way. The unbelieving host had given 
up the sheet-anchor of faith, when they proposed no 


Caleb and Joshua. 


105 


longer to walk by faith, but by sight, and so would have 
some report of the land. And now they seem to be 
anticipating just such tidings ; and when the report of 
the ten is made, it bears to their doubting minds the 
stamp of truth. It is to them according to their faith, 
or, rather, want of faith. They see lions in the way. 
Difficulties lie thick and mighty before them ; and they 
are full of murmuring and even rebellion against God 
and Moses. 

But Caleb and Joshua, planting themselves upon the 
firm foundation of unvarnished truth, hold as firmly to 
their faith in God, who had never yet forsaken them. 
They thought of the difficulties suggested by their com- 
panions ; but they immediately thought of God, and those 
difficulties immediately vanished. Caleb here stood for- 
ward as the spokesman of their side ; and his brave words 
are full of good cheer, — “ Let us go up at once and pos- 
sess it, for we are well able to overcome it.” And as the 
murmuring host lifted up their voices against their lead- 
ers, and were carrying their rebellion so far as to con- 
sider the question of returning to Egypt, the faithful 
spies rent their garments and besought the people to re- 
turn to the path of faith and obedience. With impor- 
tunate persuasiveness they exhorted them, realizing as 
they did that a crisis had come in the history of their 
brethren. “ The land, which we passed through to search 
it, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in 
us, then he will bring us into this land and give it us ; 
only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the 
people of the land, for they are bread for us ; their de- 
fence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us : 

5 * 


to 6 Companion Characters. 

fear them not.” But it was of no avail. To the doubt- 
ing host the obstacles were insurmountable ; they re- 
fused to believe, and were about to stone the faithful 
messengers. Such is ever the character of unbelief ; it 
refuses the light, and would destroy the messengers who 
bring it to its door. But to such faith as was cherished 
by Caleb and Joshua, every valley is exalted and every 
mountain is brought low. Again, we have here, 


II. — Faith Conquering Enemies . 

In the mission of the spies — certainly in making their 
report, and in the subsequent endeavors of the two faith- 
ful men to secure a right decision of the people on the 
same — Caleb seems to have been more prominent than 
Joshua. We infer this from the fact that to him is given 
a special promise of inheritance in Canaan, because of 
his fidelity. Joshua shares the assurance given to his 
companion of entrance into the promised land ; but 
there is no such explicit mention of his inheritance as 
there is of Caleb’s future possession. In the war of the 
conquest, the relative positions of the two men are 
reversed. Joshua now towers far above his companion, 
and indeed above all his contemporaries. By Divine 
appointment he now occupies the position for which by 
natural and acquired abilities he is peculiarly fitted. 
From the time of the Exodus he had been a soldier. 
He had been a favorite and diligent pupil of the great 
Commander of Israel, whose military knowledge had 
been acquired among the Egyptians, and was hardly less 
conspicuous than his legal lore. It was Joshua who led 
Israel in their first contest with Amalek in the vale of 


Caleb and Joshua. 


107 


Rephidim. His soldierly instincts appear in his expla- 
nation of the noise which came up to Moses and himself, 
descending from the holy mount, from the revellers in 
the idolatrous camp. And doubtless more and more in 
the progress of the weary years of the wandering he be- 
came known as a military leader ; and so, when the work 
of Moses was done, he stepped into the place of Com- 
mander — by God’s ordination made the captain of sal- 
vation to bring his people into their promised rest. 

In this, the great work of his life, Joshua was, as the 
writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews intimates (iv. 8), a 
type of Christ, the great Captain of our Salvation. The 
typical resemblances are very plain. First, the name 
common to both — Joshua and Jesus, of course, being 
the same word. Secondly, Joshua leads Israel into Ca- 
naan, and assigns them their respective inheritances ; so 
Jesus brings His people into heaven, and gives them 
there their safe and eternal dwelling-place. Thirdly, 
Joshua succeeded Moses, and completed his work ; so 
Christ with His blessed Gospel follows the law, and 
completes the work of that law in the perfect salvation 
of him who believeth. 

During all the period of the conquest, therefore, 
Joshua deservedly stood first. But we may well believe 
that Caleb was also in the midst of the believing, fight- 
ing host, and that his confident heroism did not a little 
to animate and encourage the children of Israel in the 
arduous war. His place had been given him’ among 
the children of Judah, the largest of the twelve tribes. 
Judah was the leader of the strongest of the four army 
corps, into which the host had been divided ; and of this 


108 Companion Characters. 

corps Nahshon was commander. Caleb, therefore, must 
have occupied some subordinate position. He had shown 
himself able to discharge a leading part with fidelity ; 
and now his faith manifests its Divine character in his 
willingness to do also any subordinate work. He was 
doubtless now, as he had been forty years before, for 
the immediate conquest of the land. And he would do 
anything and take any part to accomplish the blessed 
result. 

Without, then, losing sight of our heroes, but with a 
more general view, we see here, for one thing, faith tried 
by long delay. After the sight which Caleb and Joshua 
had had of the land of promise, it must have been a sore 
trial to them to be compelled to spend nearly forty years 
in the wilderness. They were in no respect to blame for 
the unbelief of the people, so far as we know. They 
had made most strenuous efforts to lead their brethren 
to trust God and go forward. But when it became ap- 
parent that the people were unequal to the situation, 
and the sentence of exclusion had been pronounced 
upon them for their unbelief, the faithful ones must 
have felt the trial most keenly. There were indeed but 
four of these — men that were men when they left 
Egypt ; and of these four, two should subsequently fail. 
Who can tell how Caleb and Joshua must have felt, as 
they saw the near vision of their inheritance fade from 
view, and they realized that only in their old age could 
they expect to enjoy the land, which to them was “ the 
glory of all lands ” ? Thus was their faith tried and 
made perfect for the great work before them. 

Again, for another thing, we see here faith trained to 


Caleb and Joshua. 


109 


implicit trust and thorough consecration. This seems to 
have been the double lesson of the two conflicts, in 
which the children of Israel were first engaged in the 
land of Canaan. The fall of Jericho was accomplished 
in such a way, as could not but teach Israel that this 
was to be a peculiar war. It was to be a conflict, in 
which far more depended upon the faith of God’s peo- 
ple than upon the strength of their armies, or the mili- 
tary skill of their leader. They were now to be taught, 
on the threshold of their inheritance, to exercise that 
faith to which they had been summoned by forty years 
of painful experience in the desert. In like manner, 
their first defeat before Ai, though their losses were 
small, was eminently fitted to sound the loudest call to 
a whole-hearted devotion and obedience. They could 
not hope to overcome their enemies, unless they gave 
themselves to God in a consecration which should be 
without reserve, and an obedience which should be both 
absolute and unquestioning. 

Still again, for another thing, we see here faith exer- 
cising a wise discretion in the conduct of the war. The 
lesson of Jericho and Ai was not lost upon Joshua and 
his people. They now believed great things of God ; 
and they immediately began to undertake great things 
for God. And God gave them the opportunity, as He 
always does, for the exercise of both faith and devotion. 
The commander of the faithful wisely did not fritter 
away his strength in minor conflicts. He sought, what 
the providence of God brought to his hand, to meet the 
enemy in his strongholds and in the full strength of his 
power. A few great victories would break that power 


no 


Companion Characters. 


forever, and render all subsequent work comparatively 
easy. This was Joshua’s plan ; and for the accomplish- 
ment of it he and his people had now abundant faith. 
The battles of Beth-Horon and Merom were the great 
battles of the conquest. They practically settled the 
question of the possession of the land of Palestine. We 
can hardly suppress our wonder that a people that were 
so lately so unbelieving, and to whom the difficulties 
of the conquest seemed insurmountable, should now 
exhibit such undaunted courage and such unwavering 
faith. 

One other view we must glance at in these scenes of the 
conquest. We see faith loitering in the completion of the 
work. Perhaps we should say it was unbelief that led to 
their halting. But there is some reason to believe that 
the cessation of the conflict arose from an overweening 
confidence that now, all the greater work being done, it 
would not be difficult to accomplish all that remained ; 
and for this therefore there was no great haste. So they 
proceed to divide the land and to claim their inheri- 
tances, leaving to each tribe the work of finally extermi- 
nating the small remnants of their enemies that might 
yet be found within their several borders. The subse- 
quent history is full of illustrations of the folly of this 
excessive confidence and security. It was a course highly 
offensive to God ; and it involved them in troubles, from 
the full effects of which they did not recover for well- 
nigh five hundred years, if indeed they ever entirely 
escaped their baleful influences. Until the days of 
David, at any rate, they were annoyed by their unsub- 
jected foes. 


Caleb and Joshua. 


hi 


We come now to the final lesson, illustrated by these 
heroes of faith. We have here — 

III. — Faith Claiming Promises. 

The land was not thoroughly subdued. The strong- 
holds were still in possession of the enemy. Whoever 
may have been at fault for this incomplete work of the 
conquest, it was not Joshua. He was now over ninety 
years of age ; and could well excuse himself from the 
arduous work of war. But he did not fail to exhort the 
people to go on and finish the subjugation of the entire 
country. “ How long,” he says, “are ye slack to go to 
possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers 
hath given you ?” His own personal work, however, in 
the contest was now done. It remained for him only to 
divide the inheritance among the tribes according to the 
Divine will. 

In this we have a marvellous exhibition of the great 
commander’s faith. That faith grasped the promise of 
Israel’s inheritance ; and, though they were not yet in 
possession, he parcelled it all out to the various tribes, 
in the confident assurance that God would give them full 
possession, whenever their faith should claim it. And 
this was the actual result. But what an exhibition of 
faith is here ! Calmly and confidently the old soldier 
divides the land — the unsubjugated portions and even 
the strongholds and fastnesses of the enemy, as well as 
the parts from which the Canaanites had been extermi- 
nated. History is full of instances of military command- 
ers dividing up the territories which they have acquired 
by the force of arms ; but illustrations are few of con- 


1 12 


Companion Characters. 


querors parcelling out the realms of foes not yet sub- 
dued, to the followers through whom they expect to 
gain full control. But this was Joshua’s act. Without 
hesitation he gave to the tribes of Israel their allotted 
places, and believed that their God would in due time 
confirm His own lot. 

Caleb’s faith was equally conspicuous in the part which 
he performed, in this singular transaction. His course 
was that of a believing man, who rested firmly on God’s 
promises. In three particulars this is conspicuous, and 
worthy our attention. First, his long waiting was char- 
acterized, not by sullen submission to the inevitable, but 
by a patient cheerfulness in God’s service. The weary 
years of desert life, while they wandered and awaited the 
death of the last of the unbelieving and rebellious genera- 
tion, were doubtless sad and saddening years. We can not 
resist the temptation to speculate upon the feelings of 
the host of Israel, while they waited for that last man 
to die. To the person himself it must have been a 
solemn thought that he alone now stood in the way of 
Israel’s entrance into the promised land. And to all, 
both of the doomed and rising generation, it was no 
doubt a time of sorrow, to which the “ Prayer of Moses 
the man of God” gives unexaggerated expression. But 
through all the trials of that mournful period, Caleb 
seems to have maintained a cheerful confidence in God. 
At the close of the conquest, he refers to that sad 
period, and to the goodness of God in keeping him 
alive and in the fulness of his strength, so that now, 
though fourscore and five years old, he was still in the 
maturity of his powers. “ I am this day fourscore and 


Caleb and Joshua. 


113 

five years old : as yet I am as strong this day as I was 
in the day that Moses sent me : as my strength was 
then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go 
out, and to come in.” We can not doubt that, under 
all the depressing circumstances of the wandering, it 
was his unshaken faith in God and His promises that 
had done so much to preserve him. 

Secondly, his reminder of God’s promise is bold, frank, 
and seasonable. He had been in no haste to claim the 
fulfilment of God’s gracious word granted him forty 
and five years before. But now, when the time has come, 
and the tribes are being located by lot, and other men 
are receiving their inheritances, he does not hesitate to 
come forward and remind his old companion and com- 
mander of what the Lord had said in the long gone 
years. Moses, the servant of the Lord, had sworn, 
“ Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall 
be thine inheritance and thy children’s forever, because 
thou hast wholly followed the Lord thy God.” The 
captain of the host recognized the claim of faith, and 
they gave to the faithful spy the hill country in the 
vicinity of Hebron. The city itself was allotted to the 
children of Levi ; and, indeed, it had not been promised 
to Caleb, inasmuch as, doubtless, in their searching of 
the land his feet had not trodden the streets of the city 
itself. “And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb, 
the son of Jephunneh, Hebron for an inheritance.” The 
whole course of Caleb in this business emphasizes the 
truth, that it is no sin to claim all God promises to us. 
That human nature asserted itself in the division of the 
land we may well believe ; and that there was much 


Companion Characters. 


i 14 

dissatisfaction, and perhaps murmuring, we may be quite 
sure ; while the occasion furnished abundant opportunity 
for the display of selfishness. But in the midst of it all, 
the simple-minded and trusting Caleb stood forward to 
claim his own, and grounded his claim upon the sure 
foundation of God’s promises, which can never be broken 
or forgotten. Would that our faith had the courage to 
brave all misunderstandings of a selfish world, and the 
strength to grasp the fulness of the promises, and to 
claim all that God has said should be ours. 

Thirdly, his readiness to take what God promised, with 
all possible drawbacks, is a notable fact. In Caleb’s re- 
port long years ago, his faith had made no account of 
the giants that were in the land. And now, when the 
Divine lot assigns to him the very stronghold of the 
Anakim, his faith does not shrink from its hard condi- 
tion. “ Now, therefore,” he says, “ give me this mount- 
ain whereof the Lord spake in that day ; for thou 
heardest in that day how the Anakim were there, and 
that the cities were great and fenced : if so be the Lord 
will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, 
as the Lord said.” This was the triumph of his faith. 
He had belittled the opposition of the giants when re- 
porting to his brethren ; and his faith rises to the emer- 
gency now, when, after so long a time, he finds himself 
commissioned to gain his inheritance by driving them 
from their seat of power. With the help of the Lord 
he believes himself now able to gain the full possession 
of his inheritance, — the inheritance promised him by a 
faithful God far back yonder in the desert of Kadesh- 
Barnea. 


Caleb and Joshua. 


115 

This is true faith. A cheerful readiness to await God’s 
own time for the bestowment of the blessing, — the con- 
fident claiming of all the Lord has promised, and in 
proper season, — and a perfect willingness to receive the 
Divine blessing with all the .Divinely appointed condi- 
tions ; this marks the faith of the believer as genuine. 
The last feature is far less common than the second, or 
even than the first. Multitudes would have the promises, 
but shrink from the Divinely allotted conditions. For 
example, nothing is more certain than that God makes 
Himself specially known in the ministry of affliction. 
How common the desire for this fuller and richer ex- 
perience of God’s grace among those who yet can not 
honestly sing, 

“ E’en though it be a cross 
That raiseth me 
Nearer, my God, to Thee.” 

How certain it is that the grace of faith can grow only 
by exercise ; and, therefore, how wise in God to put us 
in positions of trial and difficulty which shall develop 
this faith ! And yet how many long for the faith, and 
mourn because their faith is so weak, to whom the con- 
ditions upon which alone it can become stronger seem 
so hard that they can not endure them ! 

Let us emphasize this final truth. All the blessings 
of the kingdom of heaven are within the reaich of faith ; 
but they can be obtained only by that faith that shrinks 
not from the Divinely appointed conditions, upon which 
alone they can be possessed in all their fulness. 


VI. 


ORPAH AND RUTH. 

HE careful observer in any great art gallery will 



not fail to find out and study some of the smaller 


paintings in the magnificent collection. Overshadowed, 
to the superficial eye, by larger and grander works, they 
are none the less gems of art, — original and suggestive 
in conception, and finished in execution. They adorn 
and beautify the gallery, of which they form a seemingly 
unimportant part. Like them is the Book of Ruth, in the 
canon of Scripture. A little painting, it hangs upon the 
walls, where range the master works of the master men 
of a thousand years. Their hearts were fired and their 
hands were guided by the Inspiring Spirit ; but they 
did no more beauteous and finished work than the 
author of these four chapters, whose name, lost in the 
perfection of his picture, has perished from the memory 
of men. 

The story is one of beautiful simplicity, and yet of 
great power. It stirs the deepest feelings of our nature. 
The brief language of the record is exceedingly suggest- 
ive. Its first sentence transports us into the midst of 
oriental scenes and ancient times. The hand of God is 
upon Israel because of their sins ; and a famine prevails 


(n6) 


Orpah and Ruth. 


ii 7 


throughout the land that was usually “ a land flowing with 
milk and honey.” A certain man of Bethlehem of Ju- 
dea, pressed with necessity on account of the scarcity of 
food, went over into the Jand of Moab, to sojourn there, 
with his wife and two sons. 

In process of time the young men are married, each 
to a woman of Moab. Another revolution of the 
wheel of God’s providence reveals a stricken household. 
The man and his two sons are dead. The desolate 
woman, bereft and lonely, turns immediately to the 
people and land and God of her fathers. She resolves 
to go back to her native place, even though she must 
return, no longer Naomi, or pleasant, but Mara, or bitter, 
because “ the Almighty had dealt very bitterly with her.” 

The young women, her daughters-in-law, were very 
tenderly attached to Naomi. A community of joys and 
the common overwhelming sorrows of widowhood, had 
bound them together as only joy and sorrow mingled 
can bind. They resolve, therefore, to go with their 
mother-in-law to the land of Judah. Naomi was doubt- 
less gratified by this exhibition of devotion to one from 
whom they could hope to receive nothing. But she 
greatly desired them to make the choice of their further 
lot in life intelligently ; and, therefore, she set before 
them the difficulties and hardships, which she had rea- 
son to believe were in store for them, in leaving the land 
of Moab. Having painted in strong colors these troubles, 
and probably caring too much and too exclusively for 
their temporal prosperity, she urged them to go back 
and remain with their own people. Naomi may have 
dissuaded them from going with her, purposing only in 


ii8 Companion Characters. 

this way to test the real character of their decision. 
The result shows the accomplishment of her purpose, 
and that the two young women were actuated by alto- 
gether different feelings in their first-formed intention 
to go with Naomi. Orpah, we are told, “ kissed her moth- 
er-in-law,” evidently in token of farewell, and went back 
“ unto her people and unto her gods.” But Ruth clave i 
unto her, declaring her unalterable resolution, in words 
which have embalmed forever in their sweet tones the 
memory of her constancy and devotion. “ Entreat me 
not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee ; 
for whither thou goest, I will go ; and where thou lodg- 
est, I will lodge ; thy people shall be my people, and 
thy God my God ; where thou diest, I will die, and 
there will I be buried : the Lord do so to me, and more 
also, if aught but death part thee and me.” 

Let us now give attention to the character and con- 
duct of these two young women, as illustrating the 
choice, which all of us are justly expected to make in 
spiritual things. It will be interesting for us to examine, 

/. — The Choice of Orpah. 

The return to the land of Israel seems to have been 
already begun. A part, perhaps as much as a day’s 
journey, may have been accomplished before Naomi 
thought it wise to test the fidelity of her younger com- 
panions. They had now experienced some of the pains 
of parting from their friends, and some of the difficulties 
they were likely to encounter on the way. It may have 
been the fact that, during this preliminary stage of the 
journey, Naomi had noticed some signs of halting on 


Orpah and Ruth. 


”9 

the part of the one who eventually “ went back,” that 
determined her to give her daughters -in -law another 
opportunity to sound their hearts anew and to choose 
again whether they would go or stay. The narrative 
implies that this was done after they had gone some 
portion of the way. 

1. It is a notable fact, then, that Orpah did go a certain 
distance in that journey to Canaan. It is not probable, 
indeed, that this has any special significance. It was 
doubtless the result of her personal attachment to 
Naomi and to her sister. And yet it must strike every 
one that herein is a suggestive illustration of the course 
of multitudes in our day in their relations to heavenly 
things. Led, it may be, only by their attachment to the 
people of God, whom they number among their friends, 
they do go some distance in the journey to the heavenly 
Canaan. They become somewhat interested in the sub- 
ject of religion. They appreciate the loveliness of the 
Christian character. They wish that character was their 
own. They pray for the graces of the Divine life in 
secret. And often in the house of God, as also in 
other places, their slumbering desires are, in a measure, 
quickened after spiritual things. But they go no further. 
After some more intimate knowledge of the charac- 
ter of the Christian life, and some superficial trial of its 
difficulties, they are brought to the point of decision. 
But they never come to a decision ; or, rather, they do 
decide, but decide against Christ, and to go back again 
to their sins. 

2. Another reflection, suggested by this scene, is, that 
from this point of decision there is a rapid development 


120 


Companion Characters. 


of one’s peculiarly distinctive character. Before the final 
separation of this little company, there was not much to 
distinguish the one woman from the other. They had 
both enjoyed the pleasures of married life. They had 
both passed through the deep waters of a very sore 
affliction. And their love to a godly mother-in-law was 
apparently alike sincere and earnest. But, just so soon 
as this decision is made, the divergence of character be- 
comes manifest. Orpah chooses the world ; and her 
spirit is shown to be essentially worldly, — as will more 
clearly appear further on. But Ruth chooses the peo- 
ple and land of the true God ; and her choice reveals a 
latent, yet easily discoverable, reference to “ the things 
which are spiritual and eternal.” 

Here, also, the experience of men repeats itself. The 
precise point here made must be noted. It is not that 
the motive of this choice is a love of things temporal, — 
though this is eminently true (and it forms another link 
in the chain of instruction to be derived from this his- 
tory) ; but it is that the decision, having been reached, 
rapidly develops a character corresponding with it, what- 
ever it may be. Into a discussion of the reasons for this 
we can not here enter. It is of the utmost importance 
that our attention be concentered upon the fact and its 
consequences. You decide in favor of earthly things ; 
and that decision will carry you forward to a greater 
degree of earthliness than you have yet reached, and 
with an increasing celerity. But choose Christ and the 
interests of His kingdom, and that choice must of ne- 
cessity send you on, in a spiritual life, with an acceler- 
ating rapidity. 


Orpah and Ruth. 


12 1 


The consequences of such a choice as Orpah made, 
are seen in the alarming growth of the difficulties and 
improbabilities of salvation. Orpah, on that memorable 
day, touched more nearly the line of salvation, we have 
reason to believe, than she ever did afterward. She saw 
increasing difficulties in the way to the land of Israel. 
But a more careful study of her character will reveal an 
amazingly rapid development of overwhelming difficul- 
ties in her own heart, such as would forever prevent her 
from sharing the inheritance and hopes of Israel. It 
may be so with some one whose eyes rest upon this 
page. The orbit of your life sometimes brings you to 
the very verge of the way of salvation. But from that 
point it turns off : and you go evermore wandering, like 
a lost star, in the infinite realm of a lost eternity. 

3. Again, another observation suggested by the con- 
duct of Orpah, is this : — The choice, as against Christ, is 
usually made in view of the difficulties of His service. 
This young woman was minded to go with her mother- 
in-law, so long as her view of the obstacles in the way 
was obscure and ill-defined. But, when she was brought 
face to face with the trouble and toils of the way, then 
she faltered and turned back. Before, she had prob- 
ably had only very vague and shadowy conceptions of 
her husband’s native place. It was a strange land to 
her, — a land, of which she had heard much, — a land in 
beauty the glory of all lands, and the scene of mighty 
wonders from the hand of Israel’s God. So, therefore, 
when Naomi proposed to return to Bethlehem, she 
gladly acceded to the proposition ; and doubtless she 
rejoiced at the prospect of beholding the scenes of her 
6 


122 


Companion Characters. 


loved one’s early life. But when the plain unvarnished 
truth was laid before her, and she saw trouble ahead, 
her ardor cooled. Her anxiety to go gave place to a 
strong desire to stay. So she went back. 

This, too, is a sad, but only too vivid, picture of the 
course of many among us, respecting the Gospel of 
Christ. You are greatly attached to the people of God. 
You love the ministry of Christ. You have a certain 
delight in God’s day, and God’s house, and God’s or- 
dinances. There is to your mind a kind of glory and 
beauty in religion. All these considerations lead you to 
go some length in the way heavenward. But, just as 
soon as the true character of the way and the service is 
discovered, your feelings undergo a radical change. 
You do as the thousands did, who had been fed on the 
hill-slopes of Bethsaida. Their enthusiasm died speedily 
away under the plain and searching preaching of the 
Saviour : and “ from that time many of his disciples 
went back, and walked no more with him.” In like 
manner, reluctantly but really you go back. You would 
like to drink of the waters of life ; but difficulties are in 
the way : and so you turn away, and launch your bark 
upon the deep and wide and shoreless waters of a sinful 
world. 

There is no doubt about this. You are best pleased 
with the man of God who garnishes the thorny way of 
life with roses. You like best those discourses of truth 
which do not bring out the roughnesses of doctrine or of 
life. So long as you can go on, ignorant of the hin- 
drances of the way — even though you may have many 
-vaguely defined forebodings— you will still go on, hop- 


Orpah and Ruth. 


123 

ing after all to get to Canaan. But, when some kind 
and faithful friend unveils the real character of the way 
before you, you go sadly but resolutely back “unto 
your people and unto your gods.” Like Orpah, you 
would go ; but you will stay. 

4. Yet again, another reflection, suggested by the mis- 
take of Orpah, has respect to the motive of such a choice. 
At first thought, we might probably get the impression 
that this scene on the borders of Moab was nothing 
more than a struggle between diverse earthly affections, 
— that Orpah’s mind was vacillating between the land 
of Moab and the land of Israel, — that she was divided 
between her affection for her mother-in-law and sister, 
on the one hand, and her other relatives at home, on 
the other, — and that her choice fixed simply and only 
her earthly and temporal destiny. The future of her 
earthly life was certainly greatly affected by her election. 
But this is not the whole truth. Several parts of the 
narrative show that deeper and farther-reaching prin- 
ciples are involved in her choice. After it is made, in 
order to test Ruth also, Naomi says, — “ Behold, thy sister- 
in-law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods ; 
return thou after thy sister-in-law.” This language 
plainly shows that, in this decision, Orpah settled, for 
the time being at least, and probably for eternity, her 
spiritual interests. And Naomi’s words disclose the 
motives underlying and actuating the choice. It was 
the love of “ her people and her gods ” that took her 
back. 

Orpah had been brought in contact with the true re- 
ligion. She had seen a beautiful, though doubtless not 


124 


Companion Characters. 


perfect, exemplification of the life and power of that 
religion in the family, into which she had married. She 
was probably not blind to its excellences, and the ad- 
vantages attending a personal possession of it. And, if 
she could have worshiped and served her own gods, 
and remained with her own people, and at the same 
time could have been a worshiper of the true God, she 
would doubtless never have separated from her mother 
and sister. She was like the people, who were afterward 
placed by the Assyrian king in the cities of exiled Is- 
rael, “ who feared Jehovah, and served their own gods.” 
Orpah would have been glad to serve both Naomi’s God 
and her own gods. But when it came to a choice of the 
one or the other, she went back “ unto her people, and 
unto her gods.” 

We watch the struggle in Orpah’s mind with the most 
intense interest. And we note the result, with a feeling 
of inexpressible sadness. We feel that she has made 
the greatest mistake of her life, — a mistake infinitely 
fatal in its consequences. But how much is our sorrow 
increased by the fact, everywhere crowding itself upon 
us, that essentially the same fatal mistake is being made 
by many of our own kindred ! 

And the motive is the same in both cases. “ It was 
love to her sinful countrymen and kindred, and devotion 
to idols, that led to Orpah’s choice. These were the two 
strong bonds by which Satan held her soul in captivity 
— the powers which counteracted and overcame the dic- 
tates of conscience, and sundered her connection with 
those to whom she was nearly related and tenderly at- 
tached. And the same influences have had the same 


Orpah and Ruth. 


125 


effect on multitudes besides. Domestic and social con- 
nections with those who fear not God, are among the 
most operative and powerful causes of continued im- 
penitence. Common topics of conversation, — common 
sources of pleasure, — and a common alienation from 
God are their bond of union, — a magnetic attraction 
which draws unbelieving and earthly hearts together. 
The love of such associations and friendships, — the un- 
willingness to displease, — the want of courage to be 
singular, — and the fear of ridicule and contempt, are 
powerful impediments to conversion. They are contin- 
ually suppressing conviction, and quenching the Spirit 
in thousands of hearts.”* 

Is it not so, my friends? Can anything be more evi- 
dent than the fact, that one great reason why you are 
not a Christian to-day, is found in the prevailing power 
of these diverse interests? You are drifting away from 
Christ, because you will go back to those who, from a 
community of tastes and pursuits and pleasures, are pe- 
culiarly your own people . Oh for moral courage and 
heroism to decide for Christ ! 

“ Dare to do right ! Dare to be true ! 

Keep the great judgment-seat always in view.” 

Orpah also went back to her own gods. Her power- 
ful attachment to the idolatrous rites of her people in- 
fluenced her choice. Now, when we remember the char- 
acter of the gods of Moab, and learn the abominable 
impurity of their worship, we shall have a flood of light 

* Dr. Josiah D. Smith’s “ Truth in Love Sermon on Orpah and 
Ruth. 


126 


Companion Characters. 


thrown upon the character of this young woman. 
Knowing the essential purity and moral beauty of Je- 
hovah’s worship, and not failing to mark in contrast the 
essential impurity of the national idolatry, Orpah yet 
chose to go back to her own gods. She was an idolater 
in heart ; and therefore she joined herself unto idols. 

Here also the story is full of weightiest instruction. 
Idolatry does not consist in heathen temples, and ven- 
erated shrines, and bowing down to images of wood and 
stone alone. The worst forms of idolatry are those of 
the heart. There is a spiritual idolatry, essentially the 
same in character, and inevitably leading to the same 
disastrous results. “ The guiltiest and most God-dis- 
honoring idolaters on the face of the earth are those 
among ourselves , who are ‘ lovers of pleasure more than 
lovers of God,’ who worship and serve the creature more 
than the Creator. Spiritual idolatry is the common and 
fundamental wickedness of the impenitent, in Christian 
lands ; and it is the mightiest impediment to their con- 
version. It lies at the foundation of that already men- 
tioned, — the sinner’s unwillingness to give up Christless 
and worldly companions. This is the precise thing that 
hinders your salvation. Your heart is ungodly and idol- 
atrous. You love the pleasures of sin more than the 
God who created you and the Saviour who died for 
you.”* 

Or, it may be, your idolatry takes another form. You 
are devoted to business. Your whole heart is absorbed 
in money-making and money-saving. When we reflect 


* “ Truth in Love,” ut supra. 


Orpah and Ruth. 


127 


upon the power of this sin, and see how it does certainly 
keep multitudes out of heaven, we need not wonder at 
the solemn warning of the Word of God, — “ Take heed, 
and beware of covetousness, WHICH IS IDOLATRY.” The 
god of gold has many worshipers. 

These are the two motives influencing many to neg- 
lect Christ, and causing them to fail at last of the great 
salvation. An unwillingness to forsake, if necessary, 
our own kindred and our father’s house, and a refusal 
to give up our devotion to the idols we have worshiped ; 
— these are evermore pulling us down and away from 
Christ. Until we cast them off, we can not entertain 
a reasonable hope of salvation. We shall only repeat 
Orpah’s choice, and go to an unblessed eternity, all the 
more an unhappy one, that we have so often come to 
the very borders of the highway to the land of Canaan. 
And, if we make our choice, under the influence of the 
motives which governed the young woman of Moab, the 
probability is that we shall settle forever our spiritual 
destiny. When the love of kindred, and the idolatry of 
the heart’s noblest affections, combine to draw us away 
from God, the hope of salvation henceforth hangs upon 
an exceedingly slender thread. The soul of such an one 
is in imminent danger of forever falling short of eternal 
life. 

We must now consider, 

I I. — The Choice of Ruth. 

In tracing the course of this sister, we have a much 
more pleasing task. To watch the way of the wanderer, 
and to see her drifting farther and farther away from 


128 


Companion Characters. 


the God of Israel and the hope of salvation, is not a 
sight to be coveted. But it may nevertheless be our 
duty ; and the duty may prove a blessing to our own 
souls. With very different feelings we take up the 
thread of this simple story, when duty and pleasure 
combine to urge upon us its careful study. The foolish 
choice and sorrowful destiny of the one sister ought to 
serve us in the way of solemn warning. But the wise 
election and happy end of the other stand as a mighty 
encouragement and sweet persuasive for our spirits to 
enter upon the path she trod. 

i. Let us, then, look at Ruth as an example of fidelity 
to her convictions of the right. Powerful influences were 
brought to bear upon her, to lead her also to go back, 
abandoning her purpose to journey to the land of Ca- 
naan. There is nothing in the record to show that, in 
her case, there was not as great an attraction among her 
own people as in the case of Orpah. She was probably 
leaving as much behind as her sister. She could not be 
insensible to the pains of parting from all her friends, 
any more than Orpah. And now Orpah herself has 
yielded to the persuasion of these forces of home and 
nativity, and is going back. Naomi, too, is strongly 
urging her to do the same. From every quarter weighty 
considerations converge to induce her to give up the 
journey and to remain with her own people. But Ruth 
remains immovable. She has counted the cost. She 
has made up her mind. In the strength of God she has 
reached her conclusion ; and now she will abide by it. 

We can not but admire her fidelity. To continue 
faithful to one’s convictions of duty, in the midst of 


Orpah and Ruth. 


129 


diverse and all adverse influences, evinces no common 
spirit. If Orpah had gone with Ruth, she would still 
have shown a faithful and resolute mind. They two, we 
might well believe, were but a feeble company to resist 
the pressure brought to bear upon them from every di- 
rection. How much more is Ruth’s fidelity tried, when 
Orpah also joins the influences that combine to say, 
Come back! With that sister she had had many ex- 
periences in life in common ; and their fellowship had 
been unusually intimate and endearing. To voluntarily 
choose to be separated from that sister must have "been 
a peculiar trial to Ruth. 

We all know how much easier it is to float with the 
current than to stem the tide, — how much easier it is to 
serve Christ with a multitude, than to go alone upon 
the way to the Zion of God. We know, too, the pecul- 
iar and unsuspected power of the forces that influence 
us. There are times when such is the peculiar condi- 
tion of vast masses of snow, earth, and rock, on the 
mountain-side, that the loosening of a pebble will start 
the entire mass down the slope in one thundering and 
destructive avalanche. There are panicky conditions of 
mind among the multitude, in which a single, and in 
itself uninfluential, word will send the throng surging 
along with the fury of a whirlwind. Just so, there are 
conditions of these mental and spiritual forces of our 
natures, — wrought upon as they have been by influ- 
ences from every quarter, — when a power seemingly 
weak, and from an apparently insignificant source, will 
cause them to sweep along in a current well-nigh irre- 
sistible. Such a power may be exerted upon a soul 
6 * 


130 


Companion Characters. 


under conviction of sin and inquiring the way to Christ 
by the persuasion, or even by the conduct, of an impen- 
itent friend. To resist the pressure of these determin- 
ing forces, and to stand firm in the critical moment of 
their mightiest assault, demands a fidelity as rare as it 
is blessed. This Ruth exhibited, when the friend of 
her heart and the companion of years decided to go 
back and remain with her own people. How mightily 
must she have been moved to return also to the friends 
and kindred of her earlier years ! With what firmness 
of cfear views of duty, and resoluteness of decision, 
must she have resisted the assault upon her believing 
and faithful spirit ! With such fidelity must we also ad- 
here to our convictions of duty and right. 

2. Again, let us look at Ruth as an example of decision, 
under peculiarly difficult circumstances. From our point 
of view, we can measure the blessings attending her 
choice ; and to us, therefore, it may seem an easy thing 
to do just as she did. Indeed, we readily admit the 
folly of the opposite course, .as exemplified by Orpah. 
We are on the other side of the events that seemed so 
trying to Ruth. We can see the golden thread of God’s 
good providence running all through the web of her 
life : and to us it seems most natural that she should 
have chosen as she did. 

But suppose we place ourselves in Ruth’s position ; 
and as far as possible look at the matter with her eyes. 
Behind her is the home of her childhood. Thete are 
the friends and kindred, to whom she is bound by many 
ties. There cluster all the mingled lights and shadows 
of her happy years of married life. There lie the bones 


Orpah and Ruth. 


131 

and tender memories of her buried dead. How can she 
ever tear herself away from all these relations and asso- 
ciations, so interwoven with the very texture of her 
being ! 

Then, before her, lies the lonely and difficult journey 
to the land of Israel. And that land is an unknown 
country. If she goes, she must go as Abram, who, we 
are told, left Chaldea, “ not knowing whither he went.” 
There is little hope of temporal comfort in the change 
of residence. “ The Lord had visited his people in 
giving them bread,” it is true. But Naomi was very 
poor. “ The hand of the Lord had gone out against 
her.” Ruth’s position, therefore, in the land of Canaan, 
would be that of “ a stranger in a strange land and 
a stranger, too, in a condition of abject and hopeless 
poverty. 

These are some of the elements of difficulty in Ruth’s 
decision. The marvel is not that she did not go back 
with Orpah, but that she did not immediately yield to the 
powers which were persuading her, and flee from the 
obstacles before her. But in spite of all the hindrances 
in her way, Ruth came to a decision. And her decision 
was both right and wise. With a lowly yet lofty faith, 
she triumphed over all the difficulties of her position, 
and with a single eye to the one great duty and the one 
great hope, made her election,— choosing the Jehovah 
of Israel, who had already chosen her. 

It may be that some one will read these lines, whose 
position is substantially the same in the things of the 
spirit. You have been awakened by the voice of the 
Holy Spirit, addressed to you in His Word or Providence, 


132 


Companion Characters. 


You have been led to break partially with the world and 
sin ; and in the exercises of repentance and inquiry to 
go some distance in the way to Canaan. And now you 
have come to the point, where, with a clearer view of 
your past life and of the duties yet before you, you 
must make your choice, — whether you will go on, or go 
back. And the same kind of diverse influences are 
moving upon your heart to lead you here or there. On 
the one hand, are all the things of this life, — your un- 
converted friends and companions, — your earthly aims 
and ambitions, — your daily business and associations ; — - 
all these are drawing you away from Christ, and per- 
suading you to let go the little hold you have on spirit- 
ual things, and go back with a whole heart to the world. 
On the other hand, are the self-denials, conflicts, re- 
proaches, afflictions, temptations, and persecutions ; — 
all, in a word, that makes up the cross of a Christian 
life ; while only in the dim distance can you discern the 
glory that is to follow. Which now will you choose ? 
God forbid that you should repeat Orpah’s choice, — to 
live without grace and to die without hope. Rather 
may His gracious Spirit incline you to make the choice 
that was made by the beloved Ruth. 

But this you must emphasize to your own conscious- 
ness: — To be saved, you must look the difficulties full 
in the face : you must count the cost : and in the 
strength of God you must resolve that, let others do as 
they may, as for you, you will serve the Lord. If neigh- 
bor or kindred will not go with you, then you must go 
alone, and, in the meaning of our Lord, “ hate ” and 
“forsake” them for the kingdom of God’s sake, “With- 


Orpah and Ruth. 


i33 


out such a resolution, formed and acted on, you will 
vacillate all the days of your life ; or else, after resisting 
the convictions of your conscience for a while, become 
so hardened, through the deceitfulness of sin, as to feel 
no concern about salvation.” You must be decided, as 
was Ruth. You must determine to be a Christian now. 
You must be resolute in adhering to your conviction 
and purpose. “ Strive to enter in at the straight gate ; 
for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall 
not be able.” 

3. Finally, let us look at Ruth as an example of one 
choosing God’s service from right motives. In this we 
find a sufficient explanation of both her fidelity and her 
decision. The narrative shows that her choice was 
made, not simply out of regard to Naomi ; though she 
was sincerely and tenderly attached to her mother-in- 
law. She had also respect to “ the recompense of the 
reward.” Her hfeart was yearning for the land of prom- 
ise, and for the worship of the true God. Her spirit was 
at home only among the true Israel, and she longed for 
communion with the chosen ones of Jehovah. With the 
eye of faith, she looked beyond the delusive aspects of 
the dissolving present, and grasped the eternal blessings 
of the Israel of God. In no earthly or temporal ad- 
vantage which she was likely to gain, can we find a suffi- 
cient motive for her choice. The blessings she craved 
were of a spiritual kind. Therefore she cries, “ Entreat 
me not to leave thee, or to return from following after 
thee ; for whither thou goest, I will go ; and where thou 
lodgest, I will lodge : thy people shall be my people, and 
thy God my God.” She sought first “ the kingdom of 


134 


Companion Characters. 


God, and his righteousness ; and all these things were 
added unto her.” 

She found the communion she craved. We see, in the 
story, illustrating most beautifully the charming sim- 
plicity of those times, and no less the holy, wise, and 
tender providence of God, how the Lord gave her a 
home among His own children. The sorrows of her 
widowhood were taken away. She became the happy 
and worthy wife of the honored and honorable Boaz. 
And her place in the history of God’s dealings with His 
Church is an eminent one henceforth and forever. She 
became the great-grandmother of David ; and so, though 
not of Israel according to the flesh, the ancestress of 
our blessed Lord. Her name finds an honored place in 
the genealogy of the Saviour of mankind ; and so is 
held in everlasting remembrance. But Orpah’s disap- 
pears from the history as the name of one who lived 
under the power of the life that now is. Ruth made 
her choice with reference to the future; and all that 
future rises up evermore to crown her name and charac- 
ter with heavenly benedictions. Orpah chose her des- 
tiny, with an eye only to present things ; and in the 
wreck of her land and times her name and hopes have 
perished forever. 

Such were the contrasted choices of Orpah and Ruth. 
Like one or the other must be ours. If you choose as 
Orpah did, you may escape much present trial ; and all 
the immediate future may be bright and blessed. But 
the end shall nevertheless be one of bitterness and sor- 
row inexpressible. “ There is a way that seemeth right 
unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death.” 


Orpah and Ruth. 


i35 


If you choose as Ruth did, you enter at once upon “ a 
straight and thorny way.” A life of toil and sacrifice 
for the present is before you ; but the end is peace. 
That way leads you at last over the land of Beulah, and 
up to the gates of “the city which hath foundations, 
whose builder and maker is God.” “The path of the 
just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more 
unto the perfect day.” God help us to choose aright. 


VII. 


SAMUEL AND SAUL. 

I N the twilight times of the Hebrew Commonwealth 
the Tabernacle stood at Shiloh. It found there a 
resting-place two hundred years before the siege of Troy. 
Homer and his immortal song were yet unborn : and the 
first page of profane history, as we know it, was yet to 
be written. The old High-Priest of Israel, at the time 
to which we have now come, sat by the Sanctuary. He 
was almost a hundred years old. He saw, what seemed 
to him (by no means an unusual sight), a drunken woman 
bowing before the house of God, and heard her mutter- 
ing a maudlin, incoherent, and indistinguishable prayer. 
Eli was mistaken. He is not the only one who has mis- 
judged the agonizing suppliant, and counted those filled 
with new wine, who in fact were filled with the Spirit. 
It was a believing daughter of Israel that prayed before 
the Tabernacle. No audible voice broke the silence; 
but the prayer went up before the throne, and prevailed 
with Israel’s God. That prayer will be heard from yet, 
though the suppliant rise, and go her way, and disap- 
pear. 

A few years later, and that woman, now a mother in 
fact as before she had been in desire, again appears be- 
(136) 


Samuel and Saul. 


137 


fore, tft£ aged Priest, bringing the son of her prayers and 
tears, “ to lend him to the Lord as long as he shall live.” 
We are all familiar with the incomparable story. It is 
our introduction to Samuel. We may well observe him, 
as doubtless old Eli did. There is a future before the 
lad, than which none is greater in the Old Testament 
story, except that of Moses. 

Not all good children die while young. Sought for, 
and obtained in answer to prayer, and nurtured in the 
fear of the Lord, even in our time there are some who 
in early life choose the God of their fathers to be their 
God, and accomplish illustrious careers, the opening 
steps of which are taken from their mothers’ knees, and 
away from the threshold of a godly home. It is to our 
shame, and not through any breach of the household 
covenant, that such instances are not multiplied as the 
dew of the morning. But it is folly to expect a genera- 
tion of Samuels, when family religion decays ; and when 
from irreligious firesides our young people go forth with 
the impression that, as a matter of course, they shall 
lead an ungodly life, while they wait for the mysterious 
regeneration of the Holy Spirit. This, indeed, they 
must have ; and, were there more of Hannah’s faith and 
fidelity, they might have it, long before the evil days of 
sin and wandering come. 

From such a home, Samuel came to minister before 
the Lord. But with his early life we are not specially 
concerned at present. It is sufficient to say that, as he 
grew up, all Israel came to know, “ from Dan to Beer- 
sheba, that he was established to be a prophet of the 
Lord.” By slow processes, running over many years, he 


Companion Characters. 


138 

came at last to exert a commanding influence all through 
the land. The last of the Judges, by the decisive defeat 
of Israel’s most powerful enemies, and by the incorrupt- 
ible administration of justice, he gave a stability and 
permanence to the internal affairs of the Commonwealth, 
such as the people had never before known. It is possi- 
ble that the very success of Samuel’s administration 
paved the way to the introduction of the Monarchy. 
The people learned the advantages of a strong govern- 
ment, even though centralized. They perceived, too, 
the advancing years of Samuel ; and, dreading the con- 
fusion and failure of authority from the already manifest 
incapacity of his sons, they began to think of a king. 

We turn, then, to the other great personage in this 
critical period of the history of the Hebrew people ; — 
and to our first reflection upon these related lives of King 
and Prophet. 

/. — The Anointing of Saul as King of Israel. 

The first meeting of the two prominent actors in the 
drama ' is a significant illustration of the marvels of 
Divine Providence ; and especially of that feature of it, 
in which incidents the most trifling are made the pivot 
on which turn tremendous destinies. The agile recovery 
of a stumbling horse, it is said, gave the battle of Zama 
to Rome rather than to Carthage, and so shaped the di- 
rection of all modern history. The twittering of a bird 
saved the life of Mahomet, and so founded the empire 
of the Moslem and the Saracen. So, it is told,* a broken 


The Sunday Magazine , 1865, page 22. 


Samuel and Saul. 


i39 


helmet-clasp led to the overthrow of the first Bonaparte. 
And so it was the straying of some, untethered asses, 
that led the unsuspecting Saul athwart his royal destiny. 
With such illustrations of the minutiae of Providence, 
are we not warranted in saying they talk foolishly who 
speak so loftily of a general Providence, while they deny 
His special intervention in the affairs of men ? All God’s 
providences are special. The minutiae form the mass. 
The falling sparrow and the numbered hair attest the 
universal supremacy of the Divine care. 

Thus, led by a hand he saw not, Saul came to Samuel. 
Who has not dwelt, with unwearying interest, upon the 
simple picture of home life in those early days? We 
need only point to its various suggestive details. The 
loss of the asses, we may well believe, created no small 
stir in the quiet life of the farm. Many, doubtless, were 
the efforts put forth by the family to discover them in 
the immediate neighborhood, before the son and servant 
were commissioned for a longer journey. And then that 
journey, how it is described as if it were no little matter 
to the retired household ! The search was long, but un- 
availing. About to return, to relieve the anxieties of 
the home circle, how natural the servant’s suggestion, 
that, inasmuch as they were near his city, they should 
go and consult the Seer ! And what a picture of their 
homely poverty, that questioning and search for a suit- 
able present for the Man of God ! How happy and re- 
lieved they were by the discovery that there yet re- 
mained a quarter of a silver shekel! Then follow in 
quick succession the other incidents of the charming 
story, — their going up the hill, to meet the maidens of 


140 


Companion Characters. 


the city going down to the well to draw water, — their 
inquiry after the Seer, — the maidens' prompt, full, and 
re-assuring answer, — their street encounter with the ob- 
ject of their search, who, Divinely directed, was looking 
and waiting for them. How soon does he allay their 
anxieties about the asses ! Then come the sacrifice and 
feast, where Saul has the seat of honor, and the double 
portion. Who can tell how he was affected by the 
prophet’s vague revealings of the Benjamite’s royal fut- 
ure ? That housetop interview in the gloaming of the 
evening, what was its character and influence upon the 
goodly young man ? Who can believe that Saul slept 
much that balmy quiet night in the house of the prophet ? 
All this is followed by the secret anointing of the early 
dawn. And this by the journey home, so short, but so 
full of foretold but singular occurrences ! What a pict- 
ure of sweet simplicity the annalist has painted of life 
in those primitive times ! Surely a ruler worthy of such a 
people must come up from such unostentatious but none 
the less ennobling circumstances ! 

Let us now endeavor to form some idea of his char- 
acter, who is to begin the long line of Israel’s kings. 
He possessed some noble traits of character, as well as 
a commanding physical presence. Seven feet high, his 
was a goodly person. Probably forty years old at this 
time, with a son, Jonathan, already a young stripling, he 
was himself strongly characterized by his filial affection. 
Though absent but a few days, his heart responds to a 
father’s anxiety, and he proposes to return, lest his father 
cease caring for the asses through solicitude for his son. 
The whole region, covering these scenes of his earlier 


Samuel and Saul. 


141 

years, is scarcely more than forty miles square. This 
fact shows that Saul ha,d liv^gd an exceedingly retired life. 
It measurably explains another prominent trait of his 
character at this time, — his unaffected modesty. With 
charming ingenuousness he disclaims the prophet’s hints 
of his coming honors. And when Israel had gathered 
together at Mizpah, to receive their king, the Divinely 
selected sovereign must be drawn from his hiding-place 
among the baggage of the assembled thousands. 

When we add to this filial reverence, and shrinking 
unobtrusiveness, that chivalrous generosity which would 
not suffer any of his opposers to be put to death, and 
that fearless courage, and executive promptness, which 
he began immediately to display, it will not seem to be 
saying too much to say that Saul comes before us, to 
win us by many prepossessing characteristics. He was 
a fitting choice for Israel’s king. And yet Saul’s public 
career is a terribly saddening tragedy, — its darkening 
elements — error, remorse, jealousy, anger, melancholy, 
madness, and suicide. The cause of this sorrowful trans- 
formation will appear in the course of thought now be- 
fore us. For the present, we have to do with the second 
great scene, in which King and Prophet meet together 
before the people. 

II . — The Transfer of Royal Power. 

True to his modest nature, Saul did not immediately 
assume the royal state. He went home and kept the 
herd of cattle as before. Events were rapidly shaping 
themselves to call out his kingly powers. The siege of 
Jabesh-Gilead, and the barbarous proposal of the Am- 


142 


Companion Characters. 


monite to accept the service of the conquered city, only 
after he had put out the right eyes of all the people, 
aroused all Israel, and bound them to their new sover- 
eign in his prompt, masterly, and successful march to 
the relief of the beleaguered fortress. The aged Prophet, 
wise and kind to the victorious monarch, saw that now the 
time had come for his own formal retirement from official 
position, and for Saul’s complete investiture with regal 
honors. 

So he called an assembly of the people at Gilgal, in 
the plain of the Jordan, — the first camping-ground of 
Israel in the land of promise. He here publicly an- 
nounced his demission of the office of judge over the 
people, that he might take up the more delicate and re- 
sponsible duties of a prophet — to act as the representa- 
tive of Jehovah. His retirement is accompanied by a 
lofty challenge to point to anything unjust in his admin- 
istration of affairs. “ Behold, here I am : witness against 
me before the Lord, and before His anointed : whose ox 
have I taken ? or whose ass have I taken ? or whom have 
I defrauded ? whom have I oppressed ? or of whose hand 
have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith ? 
and I will restore it you.” And the stainless purity of 
his life, growing out of the simplicity, the fulness, and 
the thoroughness of his dedication to God (made first 
by his mother, and early ratified by himself), is now pub- 
licly and emphatically endorsed and sealed by the accla- 
mations of the entire people. It was a proud day for 
Samuel. Fittingly in such a day closes the illustrious 
line of Judges, who, for three hundred years, had ruled 
the Theocratic Commonwealth. 


Samuel and Saul. 


i43 


But Samuel, closing the line of Judges, opens also the 
long line of the Prophets. The prophetical office was 
established at the very time the throne was built up. It 
was Divinely appointed to run parallel with the mon- 
archy, the instructor of princes, and a brake on the wheel 
of despotic power. Indeed, it was never intended that 
the sovereign in Israel should be an autocratic, but a 
theocratic, king. The High-Priest, in ordinary times, 
and the Prophet, in extraordinary seasons, being in sec- 
ular matters subject to the king, were, each in his own 
sphere, possessed of co-ordinate powers. 

It was Saul’s early and persistent disregard of this 
fundamental principle of the Hebrew Monarchy, that 
led to the rupture which soon occurred between him- 
self and Samuel. The first prophet was not a priest ; 
and it is a great mistake to suppose that this is a quarrel 
between the king and the priest, and the type of all con- 
flicts between the royal and sacerdotal powers. Samuel 
was still the representative of God ; and with him the 
royal sovereign must take counsel in guiding the affairs 
of the kingdom. In this Saul failed ; and the failure led 
to his downfall. 

The two successive steps in the fall of the king of Is- 
rael, from the high place to which he had been so re- 
cently chosen, we are now to trace. 

III . — The First Disobedience. 

This first wrong step was taken at Michmash — or, speak- 
ing more accurately, at Gilgal, in beginning the campaign 
against Michmash. This was a strong and rocky fortress 
in the heart of the tribe of Benjamin, and nearly mid- 


144 Companion Characters. 

way between Bethel and the rock Jebus, or Jerusalem. 

It was still occupied by the Philistines. To dispossess 
them formed the second military project of King Saul. 

The people did not respond so readily to the royal sum- 
mons as before, when the new king had coupled the 
prophet’s well-known and honored name with his own 
in the call to arms. Such as did respond, assembled with 
the warrior-prince at Gilgal, to wait by appointment 
seven days for Samuel to come and offer sacrifice, and 
ask Divine direction in the war. The time passed slow- 
ly to the impatient king. The prophet did not come 
within the time appointed : and Saul, witnessing the 
daily diminution of his little army, could wait no more ; 
and, usurping the prerogative of the prophet, offered 
himself the sacrifice. His faithful monitor immediately 
appears. Rebuking him for his disobedience and im- 
piety, and foretelling his displacement from the throne, 
Samuel sternly leaves the guilty king, and returns to 
Gibeah in Benjamin. 

Our first impression of this sentence is that it was ter- 
ribly severe. So far as we know, it was Saul’s first pub- 
lic and official mistake and error. And we are tempted 
to say, Samuel ought to have given Saul another chance, 
before announcing the future transfer of the crown to 1 
another family. But the same demand might have been 
made by Adam and Eve in the garden. There, as here, 
it was the first offence. There, as here, the wrong-doing, 
speaking after the manner of men, was but a trifle. 

But there, as here, it was an unmistakable command. 
There, as here, it was a clear violation of a known duty. 
And, in both cases, the sin was germinal. It disclosed 



Samuel and Saul. 


i45 

a bad heart, and was the origin of all other trans- 
gressions. 

A late writer puts the case in this strong, but perfectly 
just manner: “ Subjecting Saul’s sin to strict analysis, it 
is not difficult to perceive that in the deed itself, and in 
the excuse he offered for it, there lay the seeds of all 
those vices of character that afterwards so fully and so 
fatally developed themselves in his disastrous career. 
An impulsiveness that would not wait to consider — an 
impatience that could not brook restraint — a self-will 
that would not bow its neck to any yoke — a self-decep- 
tion if not untruthfulness that put lying excuses into his 
lips, and taught him to use the tyrant’s plea — a super- 
stition which placed that value on the mere form of a 
religious act that belongs only to the spirit in which it 
is performed — and a godless independence and insubor- 
dination that made light of the direction and aid of 
heaven, and threw off the authority of God — all these 
lay folded up in embryo here. They are only expanded 
in the subsequent history.” * 

This impatience, giving rise to disobedience, comes out 
in the after-incidents of this same campaign. Through 
his impatience he had disregarded the prophet ; and soon 
after, from the same cause, he treated the high-priest in 
the same way. Samuel had left him in anger ; and now 
the king turns to the minister at the altar, that he may 
inquire of the Lord for him. In the meantime, Jona- 
than and his armor-bearer have assailed the garrison of 


* Hanna’s “ Saul, First King of Israel/’ in The Sunday Magazine* 
1864, page 204. 

7 


146 


Companion Characters. 


the rocky fortress ; and the unexpected assault has cre- 
ated a panic throughout the entire host of the enemy. 
This is soon perceived by Saul’s eager and eagle eyes : 
and, leaving the high-priest with uplifted hands in the 
very act of seeking to know the will of God, he takes 
the fortunes of war in his own hands, and hurries off to 
battle ! 

The same rash and irreligious spirit comes out again 
in his foolish oath, which, but for the generous interven- 
tion of the people themselves, had been the cause of the 
death of Jonathan. A thousand years later, no gener- 
ous and powerful friends appeared in Herod’s court to 
intercede for John the Baptist: and so he died, on the 
demand of a meretricious dancing-girl. But Herod’s 
oath was not more rash and wicked than King Saul’s. 
Both alike were disobedient and irreligious men, and im- 
patient of rebuke from their faithful friends. 

But Saul is not yet utterly forsaken. The kingdom 
must pass out of his family ; but he shall have one more 
opportunity to recover for himself the Divine favor. 
And so we come to the other step in his downfall, viz. — 


IV . — The Second Disobedience. 

He is now commissioned as the instrument of Divine 
vengeance against the Amalekites. Here again he re- 
ceives from the prophet an explicit command. He was 
to “ Smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they 
have, and spare them not, but slay both man and woman, 
infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.” 
With the apparent severity of the commission he had 
nothing to do. Nor is it in the line of our present re- 


Samuel and Saul. 


i47 


flections to tarry for any explanation of that* severity. 
Saul’s duty was to fulfil his marching orders ; and we 
are to mark his failure, for fail he did. He spared the 
king, of Israel’s enemies, and the best of the sheep and 
cattle. It was not, however, from any motives of 
humanity or piety. It was to grace the triumphal return 
with the spoils of the war, that he violated the command 
of the Lord. 

His disobedience brings again the prophet and the 
king together, for the last time in the life of Samuel. 
The narrative shows that Saul had reached the crisis 
of his reign ; and it is exceedingly suggestive. The 
meeting is a sorrowful one. The Lord had told Samuel 
of the king’s disobedience. All night long the prophet 
had cried unto the Lord in behalf of the guilty sovereign : 
but Jehovah would not reverse the decree. Saul is ir- 
revocably rejected. It only remains for the prophet to 
announce the fact. Samuel comes, therefore, freighted 
with heavy tidings. But the king, unconscious of the 
impending arraignment and condemnation, comes to 
that last interview with his early and faithful friend with 
loud professions of obedience, — “ Blessed be thou of the 
Lord ; I have performed the commandment of the 
Lord.” It is evident that the habit of disobedience, as 
is always the case, had blunted the king’s moral percep- 
tions. He did not feel that he had deviated from the 
commands of Jehovah and His prophet. But Samuel’s 
reply to his boastful greeting quickens both his memory 
and conscience, — “ What meaneth then this bleating of 
the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen 
which I hear ? ” 

The king’s answer shows now his consciousness of 


148 


Companion Characters. 


guilt. He remembered that he had been commanded to 
destroy everything belonging to the accursed race of 
Amalekites, and that the cattle and sheep had been ex- 
pressly specified. He knew that he had not obeyed that 
command. What shall he say in explanation of this 
course, which in the subject of a king was rebellion, and 
in a servant of God was a heinous sin, and in a soldier 
was a crime justly punishable with death? He seeks 
first to excuse himself. It was the people who had 
spared the cattle. It was not the king, but the army. 
It was the same old story with which the garden of 
Eden has made us familiar. It was not Adam, but Eve. 
It was not Eve, but the Serpent. This was one of the 
basest features of Saul’s sin, — to -seek to escape from 
guilt by putting the blame upon the people, whom he had 
led, and for whose obedience he was responsible. He 
seems immediately to have come to the consciousness of 
this. And so his next step is to excuse the people. It 
is true they had not strictly obeyed the letter of the 
command : but their deviation from it arose from a pious 
motive. They had spared the cattle for sacrifice. With 
great ingenuity Saul put forward this plea again and 
again. They were very far from the spirit of disobedience. 
On the contrary, they were so much of the prophet’s 
own mind that the great object they had in bringing 
home the cattle of their enemies was to offer a fitting 
sacrifice to the God whom Samuel worshiped and 
served. They had broken the letter of their orders, but 
it was to honor the God of their beloved Samuel ! 
Surely there could be no great harm in such a course of 
conduct, even though it was not just the course laid 
down in the commandment ! 


Samuel and Saul. 


149 


The king’s ingenious plea is altogether and ominously 
silent about the fact that he had spared also the king of 
the Amalekites, the doomed Agag. This shows plainly 
enough the hollowness of Saul’s plausible excuse. It is 
manifest that the haughty Saul had spared the conquered 
king and the most valuable of his possessions, only to 
minister to his own pride in the glory of a triumphal re- 
turn. For this he is ready to risk the consequences of 
God’s displeasure and the prophet’s rebuke. And all 
this extenuating plea was an afterthought, intended to 
mollify the prophet’s anger. 

The aged Samuel assumes both the insufficiency and 
insincerity of Saul’s plea. He immediately proceeds, in 
faithful terms, and yet in a way best suited to awaken 
the king’s ennobling memories, and so to soften his 
hardening heart, to denounce the conduct of the guilty 
man, and to announce his personal and irrevocable re- 
jection from the Divine favor. The rebuke is as right- 
eous as it is severe. Its words are full of weightiest in- 
struction for us. “ Hath the Lord as great delight in 
burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of 
the Lord ? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, 
and to hearken than the fat of rams.” “There is some- 
thing singularly impressive in this testimony to the com- 
parative worthlessness of all sacrifices and burnt-offerings, 
issuing from the very heart of the Levitical institute, 
spoken at the very time when all the statutes and ordi- 
nances of the Lord, touching the manifold services of 
the sanctuary, were in full force.” * 

There is an important lesson for us in this testimony 


Dr, Hanna, ut supra. 


Companion Characters. 


150 

of the aged Samuel. The spirit of religion is more 
than the form of it. In his first disobedience Saul 
had exalted the act of sacrifice above all consideration 
of the spirit in which it was to be offered. In this second 
act of transgression he would condone his disobedience 
by offering on the altar some of the spoils of the war. He 
will maintain here as there the form of worship, though 
he turn not from his sins, and regard not the spirit of 
his approach to God. But the spirit of religion is every- 
thing. And that spirit, the prophet tells him, is obedi- 
ence to the will of God. This must underrun and inform 
everything else. We may be surprised to find this les- 
son taught in the midst of the ceremonial dispensation : 
but it is eminently a fitting lesson for even the noontide 
of our Gospel day. 

Samuel evidently believed that Saul’s plea was insin- 
cere. His excuse was only an afterthought. If this 
be thought an uncharitable judgment, and we admit 
the sincerity of his plea, we find even then no extenu- 
ation of the king’s guilt. We see only how pious he 
was in his sin. He will soothe his conscience, and cover 
to himself the enormity of his disobedience, by a great 
sacrifice unto the Lord. How like his is the human 
heart in all ages ! Such conduct is sometimes the token 
of a terrible self-deception. One of the saddest facts in 
our experience is the devotion of professed Christians 
to the forms of worship while their lives are far from what 
they ought to be. A family is rent with dissensions 
and bitterness : but the forms of home piety are sedu- 
lously observed in the morning and evening worship. 
A church may be divided into factions, with daily quar- 


Samuel and Saul. 


i.5 i 

rels and unseemly bickerings and strifes : but for a time, 
at least, all the ordinances of God’s house will be main- 
tained with a scrupulous exactness, and even unusual 
fervor and fulness. The explanation of this dreadful 
state of things is not difficult. In outward observances 
men seek an anodyne for consciences that will persist in 
telling of their misery. 

But sometimes this kind of conduct is the crowning 
evidence of the fact that the soul is lost to all that is 
holy and right. It knows its sin ; and it cloaks it not 
to its own eye, for that can never be, but to the eye of 
its fellow, that it may yet gain some advantage for itself. 
Conscious, deliberate hypocrisy is usually the last and 
worst form of sin to which the hardened soul surrenders 
itself. 

This was the sin of King Saul. And hence his solemn 
judgment and rejection by the mouth of the sorrowing 
prophet. Samuel’s rebuke seemed to touch the king ; 
but it was only a seeming. He cried, “ I have sinned, 
for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, 
and thy word.” But his repentance was like that of 
Cainyand Esau, and Judas. He grieved, not over the 
sin, but over its consequences. He feared the effect upon 
the people of an open rupture with Samuel. And so 
he besought him nevertheless to turn and worship with 
him in the sacrifice. The prophet turned, indeed, but it 
was to execute the wrath’ of God upon Agag. Then, 
gathering up his rent mantle, emblem of the kingdom 
torn from Saul, he left the guilty sovereign with his ill- 
gotten booty. “ And Samuel came no more to see Saul 
until the day of his death ; nevertheless Samuel mourned 


152 


Companion Characters. 


for Saul.” The king was undone ; and the prophet 
knew it. They met but once more on earth. That 
sorrowful scene we must now portray. And so we 
come to 

V . — The- Final Interview. 

The long years of melancholy, so profound, and with 
the years increasing evermore, until no minstrel’s harp 
had power to charm the troubled spirit, — the bitter and 
relentless persecution of the ruddy shepherd of Bethle- 
hem, — and the various wars of King Saul with the ene- 
mies of his kingdom ; — all these we must pass by. 
These years of Saul’s reign are full of the interest of a 
darkening tragedy ; but we have no special interest in 
them just now ; because Samuel, the other factor in our 
theme, drops out of the history, and eventually dies be- 
fore the curtain falls upon the drama of Saul’s life. And 
yet Samuel and Saul meet once more. 

Thirty years have passed away since the irrevocable 
doom was pronounced at Gilgal. The hosts of the 
Philistines, increasing in power and activity as the sov- 
ereignty of King Saul wanes, have gathered on the east- 
ern edge of the great plain of Esdraelon, and on the 
foot-hills of Tabor and Gilboa. “ More decisive battles 
have been fought on this plain than on any other spot on 
earth. Chaldeans, Assyrians, Midianites, Israelites) 
Philistines, Egyptians, Crusaders, Saracens, Turks, Arabs, 
and French have met here in deadly strife, to trample 
in dust and blood the banners wet with the dews of Tabor 
and Hermon.” Saul and Israel were on the heights of 
Gilboa. 

Samuel was dead ; and the Lord had forsaken the un- 


Samuel and Saul. 


i53 


happy king. To his cries for guidance and help, there 
came no response from the God of Israel, either by 
prophet or dream ; and the miserable king was sore dis- 
tressed. The toils of the destroyer were closing in 
around him more and more tightly. He felt that he 
must have counsel ; and so, deserted of God and His 
servants, he sought for light in the wizard’s baleful vatic- 
inations. She lived at Endor. Her wretched home, 
perhaps some cave in the rock, was on the very edge of 
the hostile forces. Saul in impenetrable disguise, ac- 
companied only by his servants, journey to her place 
under cover of the night, passing probably up the Jordan 
valley, and thence up the steep and rugged south-eastern 
slope of Mt. Tabor. It was a strange, unseemly journey 
for a king. But Saul was in a desperate strait. 

It was a strange and mysterious interview, that meet- 
ing of the sorceress and the king of Israel. And stranger 
still was the apparition of the aged prophet, the earliest 
and most faithful friend of the royal Saul. It would 
but cumber these pages, and serve no useful purpose, to 
detail the various opinions of learned men concerning 
this singular episode in the life of Saul. It will be 
enough for us simply to express our judgment that this 
was a real appearance of Samuel, for wise purposes Divine- 
ly permitted. It was the last meeting on earth of king 
and prophet. How different from their first meeting 
forty years before ! Then Saul was in the prime of his 
opening manhood. A magnificent future lay before the 
goodly young man ; and he possessed the qualities to 
make that future one of great joy to himself, and bless- 
ing to the people over whom he was about to be called 
7 * 


154 


Companion Characters. 


to reign. Now an old and broken man, he stands on 
the other side of those then untried years, to realize 
the disappointment of wasted opportunities and squan- 
dered powers. 

Most pitifully does the perplexed and guilty king 
pour into the ears of his early friend the tale of his sor- 
rows. With bowed form and buried face he answers the 
prophet’s question, “ Why hast thou disquieted me to 
bring me up ? ” by the sad lament, — “ I am sore dis- 
tressed ; for the Philistines make war against me, and 
God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, 
neither by prophets, nor by dreams ; therefore I have 
called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me 
what I shall do.” Samuel had mourned for Saul ; but 
the days of his mourning were now ended. There is an 
awful solemnity and earnestness in the prophet’s last 
message to the man, whom he had so often counselled 
and sought to lead in the right way. But there is no 
longer any pity, — no longer any mercy. The day of 
mercy is done. The hour of retribution has come. And 
so the prophet answers, — “ Wherefore then dost thou 
ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee, and 
is become thine enemy? And the Lord hath done to 
him, as he spake by me : for the Lord hath rent the 
kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neigh- 
bor, even to David : because thou obeyedst not the voice 
of the Lord, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Ama- 
lek, therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee 
this day. Moreover, the Lord will also deliver Israel 
with thee into the hand of the Philistines : and to-mor- 
row shalt thou and thy sons be with me : the Lord also 


Samuel and Saul. 


i55 


shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the 
Philistines.” With these dreadful words of doom, the 
shade of Samuel disappeared ; and Saul, overwhelmed 
by the heavy tidings, fell prostrate upon the ground, 
“ and there was no strength in him.” 

The fated morning dawned at length. Saul had risen 
from the depths into which his spirits had sunk, and in 
the morning was at the head of his forces. He knew 
what should be the result of that day’s battle, and per- 
haps he fought with the energy of despair, perhaps with 
the shrinking of a coward. But whether fearful or fear- 
less, his fighting was of no avail ; and the end, inevitable 
and terrible, soon came. We need not dwell upon the 
sorrowful story. Over the din and tumult of that dark 
day in the annals of the Hebrew people, rings out for- 
ever the song of the Psalmist, celebrating in elegiac 
strains the noblest virtues of the royal Saul, and the 
sweet, self-sacrificing friendship of the well -beloved 
Jonathan. “The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy 
high places : how are the mighty fallen ! ” 

One vastly important lesson we must learn from these 
related lives, — as truly emphasized by Samuel’s illus- 
trious career, as by Saul’s darkening course and tragic 
end, — that is this, viz. : The path of safety, happiness, 
and honor is the path of unswerving obedience to the 
will of God. 


VIII. 


DAVID AND JONATHAN. 

HE story of Damon and Pythias is the classic 



model and illustration of friendship. It is an old 


story ; and all are probably familiar with its affecting in- 
cidents. Damon is condemned to death by Dionysius. 
The execution is delayed that he may return home and 
arrange his domestic affairs. But some one must be 
surety for his appearance at the appointed time, and 
prepared to die in his stead, if he be not forthcoming. 
Pythias steps forward to occupy the place of his friend. 
Time passes. The doomful hour has come, but no 
Damon. Pythias cheerfully prepares to be a sacrifice 
upon the altar of friendship. He is just giving expres- 
sion to the gladness of his heart that adverse winds have 
detained Damon’s vessel beyond the fatal moment, when 
Damon himself rushes breathless upon the scene. The 
Tyrant of Syracuse, inured to scenes of cruelty, is so 
moved by the spectacle of the two friends contending 
for the place of suffering and death, that he remits the 
punishment, and begs a share in friendship so strong 
and constant. 

Multitudes have read and been charmed by the fault- 
less tale. And we wonder not. “ Greater love hath 


(156) 


David and Jonathan. 157 

no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his 
friend.” 

The place which the friendship of Damon and Pyth- 
ias occupies in classic literature, is, in the Scripture 
story, filled by its parallel and equal, — the friendship of 
David and Jonathan. It is difficult to decide which is 
the better illustration of a sentiment so ennobling and 
honorable wherever it appears. The inspired narrative 
may lack the brevity and the definite outlines of the 
Sicilian story ; but it gains immensely in a charming 
minuteness of detail, which makes it far more interest- 
ing, and which gives it a place in the front rank of these 
incomparable episodes of the Hebrew history. 

Possessing such elements of popularity and power, as 
well as of valuable instruction, the story deserves our 
thoughtful examination. 

The young men— David and Jonathan — come togeth- 
er, for the first time, under circumstances of peculiar 
interest, and such as were well fitted to knit their hearts 
together in the bonds of a common affection. 

It was during one of those forays of the Philistines 
into the territory of Israel, which were not uncommon 
along the borders of the hostile nations. The contend- 
ing armies were encamped on opposite heights overlook- 
ing the valley of Elah. This valley is described by 
Robinson as running in a northwesterly direction, being 
about a mile wide, with fertile soil, and a brook running 
through the center, while on either side, and rising with 
a uniform and steep ascent, stretches a line of hills five 
hundred feet above the level of the valley. On these op- 
posing hill-tops were encamped the armies of Israel and 


158 


Companion Characters. 


Philistia. And down into the valley between, daily strode 
the champion giant, impiously defying “ the armies of 
the living God.” There, also, beyond the brook, and in 
full view of both armies on the heights above, the strip- 
ling, — ruddy and youthful David, — appears for mortal 
combat with Goliath, panoplied with Divine protection, 
and armed with a sling and stones from the brook. 

The young warrior was observed with different emo- 
tions by many in Saul's host. All doubtless thought him 
a foolhardy and rash adventurer. His brothers envied 
while they scorned him. The king himself looked on 
with doubtfulness and wonder. But one heart was there 
that beat in unison with the youthful shepherd's heroic 
purpose. That was Jonathan’s, the king’s son. The 
noble prince immediately recognized a kindred spirit. 
The undaunted heroism of David, in meeting the cham- 
pion alone, is not unlike Jonathan’s romantic and well- 
nigh single-handed assault upon the rocky stronghold of 
Michmash. No wonder then the heart of the prince 
went out to David ! No warmer welcome greeted the 
victorious champion of Israel, as he climbed the slope 
bearing the giant’s head and spear, than he received 
from the prince-royal of the house of Saul. Under the 
impulse of a generous admiration, he even stripped off 
his robe, and put it upon David, and “ armed him with 
his own sword and bow ! ” “ And the soul of Jonathan 

was knit with the soul of David; and Jonathan loved 
him as his own soul.” It was the beginning of a life- 
long, and often-tried, but ever unwavering friendship. 
This relation of the Prince to the Shepherd suggests, as 
the fruitful theme of our present reflections, 


David and Jonathan. 


i59 


A number of Observations concerning True Friendship. 

It is a part of the fulness of Divine Revelation that 
the Bible not only makes known to us the way of salva- 
tion, but also by precepts and examples enlightens us 
as to our duties in respect to all the cardinal virtues of 
an upright and benevolent life. Among these virtues, 
Friendship has a most important place. The history of 
the relations of David and Jonathan illustrates, for one 
thing, 

I . — The Conditions of Friendship. 

The grounds upon which a genuine friendship must 
ever rest are not easily explained. Perhaps it is impos- 
sible to explain them. “ It is not mere esteem, for we 
may esteem one for whom we have not this peculiar at- 
tachment. It is not mere congeniality of temper, for, 
though friendship can exist only between kindred spir- 
its, it is such congeniality as admits of wide diversity of 
age, culture, engagements, and even tastes. It would 
seem rather that true friendship, like some other attach- 
ments of life, springs in a large degree out of inexplica- 
ble sympathies between the parties.” * 

It seemed to be so in the friendship of David and 
Jonathan. Theirs was not a friendship between equals 
in age, or rank, or social position. In the subsequent 
history, David rises so high, and becomes so truly great, 
that, unconsciously antedating the growth of these ele- 
ments of his greatness, we come to regard him as the 
chief person in these scenes of his earlier years. This, 


* Dr. J. M. Lowrie’s “Life of David,” pp. 71-72. 


i6o 


Companion Characters. 


however, is a mistake, as will appear from closer atten- 
tion to the history. So long as Jonathan lived, he was 
superior to David, — especially in every outward circum- 
stance. Indeed it is not at all unlikely that he was the 
more mature in all the nobler qualities of mind and 
heart ; and that he exerted an immeasurable influence 
in shaping and developing the naturally more gifted 
mind of his friend. At any rate, in the beginning of the 
acquaintance of these two friends, Jonathan, older in 
years perhaps, was certainly David’s superior in rank. 
The latter was but an immature and rustic shepherd 
boy, with little outcropping of his future greatness ; 
while Jonathan was the crown-prince. In all the king- 
dom, there was but one greater than he. Yet David and 
Jonathan were thoroughly knit together in an unbroken 
friendship, which grew daily stronger with the changing 
years. 

In the light of this Scriptural example, it can not be 
regarded as a quixotic view of true friendship that holds 
that equality in wealth or in the social scale is not one 
of its necessary conditions. Many, indeed, will regard 
such a statement as a grand heresy. Very true, also, it 
is that much that is called friendship never surmounts 
these barriers of our artificial life. But this is nothing 
to the purpose. True friendships may be formed, as in 
the case of these two young Hebrews, between the 
Prince and the Shepherd. And while it is no doubt the 
fact that many parents wrong their children, in thought- 
lessly allowing improper intimacies, we can hardly re- 
sist the thought that others do theirs wrong by restrict- 
ing in other directions the range of their friendships. 


David and Jonathan. 161 

Because you have a little more money than your neigh- 
bor, and can dress your children in better clothes than 
his can wear, you foolishly shut up the Divinely-ordered 
and mutually outgoing sympathies of yours to his, 
though his may be, in every other respect, the worthy 
peers of yours or of any. You act very foolishly in 
this, for, to mention no other reason, the shepherd-boys 
of to-day may be the kings of their generation, when 
the princes of the blood lie in unhonored graves ! 

Is there then no condition necessary to the existence 
of true friendship? We answer, Yes, there is one, with- 
out which it can not exist. It is the one that pre-emi- 
nently marks the intercourse of David and Jonathan. 
True and lasting friendship must be founded upon vir- 
tuous principle. “ Every good writer upon this subject 
acknowledges that virtue is necessary to the firm and 
just esteem and affection inspired by true friendship. It 
is interesting to notice, in Cicero’s treatise upon Friend- 
ship, in how strong terms he condemns the thought that 
any one for friendship’s sake should be willing to do an 
unrighteous thing. It is no excuse for a fault that it 
was committed for the sake of a friend ; for friendship 
can not exist when we depart from virtue. It is asking 
too much of any friend to demand that he should sup- 
port or aid us in wrong. It is not in the nature of 
things that we can put confidence in one who would do 
so ; for he who is willing to wrong truth and justice can 
hardly be faithful to anything else : and he can easily 
judge that one who wishes him so to do would not 
scruple to do the same. The attachments of wicked men 
are liable to be easily sundered when policy or advantage 


162 


Companion Characters. 


seems to demand this. A true and reliable friendship 
rests upon the solid foundation of virtuous principles/’* 
A friend, therefore, who connives at our own wrong- 
doing, or demands of us, as the price of his friendship, 
that we should depart from the line of strictest recti- 
tude, is not a friend, but an enemy in disguise. He may 
be influential, able to help us greatly, and loud in his 
professions of attachment to us ; but the simple, naked 
fact is, he is our enemy — a wolf in sheep’s clothing. If 
we are wise we shall beware of him, nor be ensnared by 
a hypocritical show of regard, while he means us evil all 
the time. 

This Scripture story of the Prince and Shepherd illus- 
trates, for another thing, 

II . — The Trials of Friendship. 

It was easy enough for the young men to be friends, 
and to live in the closest intimacy, so long as no barrier 
rose up to hinder the flow of their mutual sympathies. 
While David is at court, the sweet singer and charming 
minstrel of peace to a troubled mind, — while he is high 
in favor with his sovereign, adopted into the royal 
family, and married to the king’s daughter, — while the 
sun of prosperity shines upon both; — under these cir- 
cumstances, it is not difficult for David and Jonathan to 
live in the happy intercourse of loving companionship. 
And under similar circumstances, in our time, as well, 
friendship is neither difficult nor uncommon. 

But such conditions long continued are exceedingly 


* “ The Life of David,” ut supra , pp. 77-78. 


David and Jonathan. 


163 


rare. And “ the friendships are few that survive years 
of separation, the shock of conflicting interests, the 
drain made on our old affections by new claims, the 
trials they are put to by infirmities of temper, by plain 
dealing with faults, by a matily independence, by re- 
quests refused, by favors unrequited, by the rivalries of 
business, and by a thousand other nameless circum- 
stances.” * Yet these are the common trials and tests 
of friendship. If it be said, as it must be, that all true 
friendship will survive these numerous mutations, then 
it must also be said that true friendship is one of the 
rarest of all rare jewels; and this also is true. 

But we can not suffer ourselves to doubt that it does 
exist at present, as it has existed in the past. This was 
the friendship of David and Jonathan. It stood the 
severest test. The day came when the friends were 
compelled to separate. The king’s evil eye was upon 
* David. Before he had any certain knowledge of the 
fact, Saul’s jealous spirit had divined that David was his 
Divinely chosen successor. And with the growth of 
that conviction, he increased his efforts to put him out 
of the way. Yielding, therefore, to the necessities of 
the case, the friends met in the morning dawn for a sor- 
rowful parting. They were to meet but once more on 
earth. They knew not of this, however, and indeed had 
not expected to meet this time. But they found they 
could not deny themselves one more interview. So 
Jonathan sent his boy back into the city, with his bow and 


* Dr. Guthrie's “ Old Testament Characters,” in The Sunday 
Magazine , 1859, p. 370. 


164 


Companion Characters. 


arrows ; and behind the sign-post (as its name signifies), 
the stone Ezel, the friends met to condole with each 
other over the sudden termination of their years of 
fellowship, and to bind themselves by solemn covenant 
for the years to come. The test of their friendship was 
a severe one, but it stood the test. 

We can easily see that David had great reason to fear 
the rupture of a friendship now so intimate. He was 
no longer the favorite at court. In after-years he had 
opportunity to know how few would cling even to a king 
in disgrace and fleeing from his capital. Could he now 
suppose that Jonathan, the king’s son, surrounded by all 
the attractions of the court, and possessing everything 
that heart could wish, would continue to care for him, a 
fugitive and vagabond, outlawed by the king, and driven 
into an attitude of hostility to Jonathan’s own father, 
whom with all his faults Jonathan still faithfully and 
tenderly loved ? We should have said to David, that all * 
the probabilities were that Jonathan would soon forget 
him, and leave him to his miserable fate. But we should 
have misjudged the friendship of the crown-prince of 
Israel. David was never forgotten, in Saul’s court, by 
the friend of his opening manhood. It was the con- 
stancy of Jonathan’s friendship that touched the tender- 
est cord in David’s heart, as he sang, in after-years, his 
song of grateful recollection, “ Thy love to me was won- 
derful, passing the love of women.” 

We wonder at the love, though not at the song, when 
we remember the conflicting interests of the two friends. ' 
“ Out of sight, out of mind,” is a common proverb, as 
true as trite. Few friendships can bear the shock of 


David and Jonathan. 165 

simple separation, especially if that separation be pro- 
tracted. Far fewer friendships will stand the additional 
strain of not merely diverse, but conflicting interests. 
Yet the friendship of David and Jonathan was not rupt- 
ured by such a trial, presented in the most seductive 
and powerful form. Jonathan knew, at last, as he prob- 
ably suspected, from the first, as well as his father, that 
David was to be king. He knew also that the succession, 
in natural order, would bring the crown to his own head. 
He knew further that he had only to say the word ; and 
the myrmidons of royal power would speedily destroy 
David. He needed to take no active part at all. Were 
he simply to remain quiet, and permit it to be done, it 
would be enough. His own father had urged upon him 
the fatal nature of his friendship for David. “ As long 
as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt 
not be established, nor thy kingdom.” Yet Jonathan 
would not lift a finger, nor touch a hair of the head of 
his friend. Nor would he, so far as it lay in his power 
to prevent it, permit any one else, — not even his own 
father, — to do him any injury. A vastly stronger reason, 
than Esau as to Jacob, had Jonathan for regarding 
David as a supplanter : but he never felt nor manifested 
the slightest trace of jealousy, nor suffered a moment’s 
interruption to his friendly regard for the son of Jesse. 

One other test of friendship was encountered by the 
crown-prince’s affection for David. Plain words were 
spoken before that meeting of the two friends at the 
stone sign-post outside the city gates. Jonathan could 
not, up to this time, believe that his father cherished any 
evil design against David. It was, therefore, a matter of 


1 66 


Companion Characters. 


no little delicacy for David to persist in so serious a 
charge against the father of his friend. He said to Jon- 
athan, “ What have I done ? what is mine iniquity ? and 
what is my sin before thy father, that he seeketh my 
life?” But Jonathan replied, “ God forbid: thou shalt 
not die ; behold, my father will do nothing either great 
or small, but that he will shew it me : and why should 
my father hide this thing from me ? it is not so. And 
David sware moreover, and said, Thy father certainly 
knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes ; and he 
saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved ; 
but truly, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, 
there is but a step between me and death.” The plain 
words, so skilfully veiled, did not break the friendship. 

This, however, is their general effect. It is a true 
friendship, indeed, that will bear the pressure of unvar- 
nished truth. Many are the friendships which, appar- 
ently sincere and intimate, dissolve, like the tracery of 
the frost-king, before the warmth of outspoken truth. 
He who dares to tell us when we are wrong, who refuses 
to connive at our sin, who declines affiliation with us in 
the same, who rebukes us by word and example — he is a 
true and faithful friend. If we are wise and love our 
own souls, we shall be glad to leave the crowd of syco- 
phants, and parasites, and flatterers, of which the world 
is full, to take counsel always of him. He does not be- 
come our enemy, who tells us the truth. “ Faithful are 
the wounds of a friend.” 

One other aspect of the general subject is well illus- 
trated by the story of David and Jonathan, viz. — 


David and Jonathan. 


*67 


III . — The Triumphs of True Friendship. 

Years of checkered experience pass away. If David is 
tried and disciplined by his wanderings, and by the perse- 
cutions of Saul, Jonathan is not left without peculiar and 
grievous trials, in the court of his father, now so manifestly 
forsaken of God. We all say Jonathan had the more 
difficult lot. It would seem again and again as if his 
friendship for David, or his love for his father must be 
given up. He did neither. Like Him, another well-be- 
loved Son, who died to reconcile a Father’s love and 
law, Jonathan surrendered the throne to his friendship 
for David, and his life to the love he bore to his father. 

It was under the conviction that this surrender of the 
throne was the will of God, that Jonathan sought out 
his early friend in the forest of Ziph. It was their final 
interview. No one can read the brief record, without 
observing the profound feeling of both parties, chastened 
and softened by their multiform trials. They here re- 
newed their solemn covenant. The submissive but san- 
guine spirit of Jonathan drew a charming picture of the 
coming happier days, when David should be king, and 
he the king’s prime minister. It was the definite surren- 
der of the throne, and of all his highest ambition. And 
with this crowning proof of his love for David, he re- 
turned to love, and cherish, and at last to die with his 
father. For his golden dream gave place to the storm- 
cloud of fatal war. It was well that Jonathan died. 
Possibly even his friendship would not have stood the 
test of conflicting interests, such as must have arisen 
when the two friends came to be put forward by their 


Companion Characters. 


i 68 

adherents, as rival candidates for the throne of Israel. 
As it was, though his race was early run, his life closed 
a triumphant illustration of the power of true and un- 
selfish and unchanging friendship. While memory en- 
dures, men will weep over the pathetic story of Jona- 
than’s self-sacrificing friendship and be animated to 
emulate the noble example. 

The survivor, in this league of love, was not to be 
outdone. Tenderly he cared for the remains of his 
friend. In after years he made diligent inquiries, “ Is there 
yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew 
him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” But, first of all, 
yielding to his overpowering emotions, in view of his 
loss, he took up his harp ; and sweeping its plaintive 
chords with the hand of a master-minstrel, he sang a 
song that embalms the memory of Jonathan for loving 
recollection, while friendship lasts, and poetry and music 
combine to immortalize illustrious lives and deeds. He 
called it 


“THE SONG OF THE BOW.”* 


“ On thy heights, O Israel, is the Gazelle slain ! 

How are the mighty fallen! 

Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon, 
Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, 

Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. 


‘ Hills of Gilboa, no dew, no rain, come on you, devoted fields, 
For there was stained the bow of the mighty, 

Saul’s bow, never anointed with oil. 


Kitto’s “ Daily Bible Readings,” Vol. IV., page 294. 


David and Jonathan. 


169 


“ From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, 

The bow of Jonathan turned not aside, 

And the sword of Saul came not back empty. 

“ Saul and Jonathan ! lovely and pleasant were ye in life, 

And in death ye were not divided. 

Swifter than eagles, stronger than lions, were they. 

^ “ Daughters of Israel, weep ye far Saul : 

He arrayed you pleasantly in scarlet ; 

He put ornaments of gold on your apparel. 

“ How are the mighty fallen in the midst of battle , 

O Jonathan , slain in thy high places. 

“ O Jonathan, my brother, I am grieved for thee : 

Very pleasant wast thou to me — 

Wonderful was thy love, passing the love of women. 

“ How are the mighty fallen , 

And the weapons of war perished ! ” 

Such is the illustration of friendship furnished by the 
story of David and Jonathan. A friendship like this, 
providentially ordered, and with Divinely adapted and 
mutual sympathies, must ever be a blessing to both par- 
ties. In the varying vicissitudes and experiences of 
years, it may be sorely tried, — indeed it must be tested, 
to be of any value. But it shall ultimately triumph 
over every obstacle, and leave the hearts of those who 
share the ennobling passion purified and even trans- 
formed by its holy presence. 

Our reflections upon this theme, as thus illustrated, 
will have fulfilled their purpose, only, if they shall lead 
us to esteem more highly than we have done the charac- 
„8 


Companion Characters. 


170 

ter of Jonathan. The fame of David rests upon other 
noble qualities ; but the prince royal of the house of 
Saul will always and justly be known in history as “ Jon- 
athan, the Friend.” And all the affecting incidents of 
his lovely and self-sacrificing life will serve their highest 
purpose, if we are led to trace in them the life and love 
of the “ Friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” 

Like Jonathan our blessed Lord was the crown-prince 
in the kingdom of God. He was the fairest of men, 
“ the chiefest among ten thousand, and the one altogether 
lovely.” Like Jonathan He gave up His throne — that He 
might share it with the lowly. Like Jonathan He set 
His love upon us — but for no masterly fight of ours with 
His and our enemies. Yet every conflict and victory of 
ours rejoices His heart far more than did David’s triumph 
over Goliath make glad the heart of Jonathan. Like 
Jonathan He puts His robe upon us, and arms us for the 
battle. Like Jonathan, though now in the court of His 
Father, He sympathizes with us in all the trials of our 
wandering, and makes continual and powerful interces- 
sion for us. Like Jonathan He went down to death for 
us to reconcile the conflicting claims of love and law. 
Surely then, with far more emphasis than David sang 
of Jonathan, may we sing of our best beloved Friend 
and Saviour, 

“ Thy love to me was wonderful, — was wonderful,” 


IX. 


ELIJAH AND ELISHA. 

T HE ministry of Elijah and Elisha extended over a 
period of nearly one hundred years. In one re- 
spect this couple differ from all the other related charac- 
ters of this series ; — their public life was not to any 
great extent contemporaneous. The one took up the 
duties of the prophetical office where the other put them 
down. The ministry of each was principally confined to 
the northern kingdom, — that of the Ten Tribes. Their 
joint labors covered the reigns of six kings, and had to 
do with one of the most corrupt and profligate periods 
of the Israelitish Monarchy. 

When Elijah first appeared in the history, the great 
national breach of the Second Commandment, inaugu- 
rated by Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, in the worship of 
the calves as symbols of Jehovah, had given place to 
the more open idolatry, in violation of the First Com- 
mandment, of another god in the worship of Baal. This 
apostasy of Israel had been brought about by the in- 
famous Jezebel, the Zidonian wife of King Ahab. She 
was a woman, as would seem, of great beauty of person, 
combined with an astonishing force of character, — an 
imperiousness of will, inspired by an unscrupulous spirit 

(171) 


172 


Companion Characters. 


that was absolutely diabolical, — with which she twisted 
her wicked and weaker-minded husband around her fin- 
ger. She was the incarnation of wickedness. She insti- 
tuted the first religious persecution of which history 
gives us any information. Her influence poisoned all 
Israel, and extended over the entire century, while she 
remains to the very end of the canon of Scripture the 
type of all seductive, corrupting, and persecuting powers. 

To meet this deplorable state of things among His an- 
cient covenant people, God raised up the two men whose 
names are now before us, — Elijah the Tishbite, and 
Elisha the son of Shaphat. The ministry of the first 
covered a period of thirty-three years, that of the second 
of nearly sixty. Never were two men more unlike ; and 
their public life answers to this dissimilarity. 

More of mystery and even romance gathers around 
Elijah than about any other Old Testament character. 
He bursts upon the scene of his future labors, with the 
suddenness and startling effect of a thunder-bolt. He 
disappears as suddenly in a whirlwind and chariot of 
fire.* In his rare, sudden, and brief appearances — in his 
undaunted courage and fiery zeal — in the brilliancy of 
his triumphs — in the pathos of his despondency — and 
in the glory of his final departure, standing alone among 
all sacred characters, he has been fittingly named “ the 
prophet of fire.” Born probably somewhere in the 
mountainous region of Gilead, on the eastern side of the 
Jordan, he resembles in some respects the great free- 
booter judge of Israel in earlier days, whose native re- 


* See Grove’s article, “ Elijah,” in Smith’s Bible Dictionary. 


Elijah and Elisha. 


i73 


gion was the same district. The unflinching sternness 
of Jephthah is vividly reproduced in the Tishbite Re- 
former. 

Elijah discloses, also, many of the distinctive traits of 
the modern Bedouin Arabs— children of the desert. In 
his hajry skin, and heavy locks, and shaggy mantle, he is 
the very image of those scourges of the Holy Land. 
Like theirs, also, was his power of endurance, exhibited 
in his manifold journeyings, and especially in that won- 
derful feat, when from the base of Carmel with girded 
loins he ran before the king’s chariot, flying from the 
storm and rain, the long sixteen miles to Jezreel. Like 
them, also, he came and went with apparently an almost 
supernatural celerity. As a meteor he drops down be- 
fore the king, with his words of denunciation, “ As the 
Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there 
shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to . 
my word and then he disappears. Like an apparition 
the strange weird form confronts the king going into his 
unlawful possession, the vineyard of Naboth. And in 
dismay the startled sovereign cries out, “ Hast thou 
found me, O my enemy?” Delivering the terrible mes- 
sage of his Master, the child of the desert vanishes as 
quickly as he came. These natural characteristics of the 
Tishbite Bedouin were dignified and ennobled, but not 
removed by his Divine commission as the Lord’s Prophet. 

Turning now from Elijah to his successor, the most 
superficial comparison will show that we have an entire- 
ly different man to deal with in Elisha. We meet him 
first, not in the wild and mountainous district of Gilead, 
but in the rich, fertile, and cultivated valley of the Jor- 


174 


Companion Characters. 


dan, and as a wealthy citizen of the town of Abel- 
Meholah. “ The sacred history conducts us to his house 
and family. We are made acquainted with his occupa- 
tion and connections. We behold him at his plough as 
a common husbandman, — as one whose feelings and ex- 
perience are much the same as those of ordinary men. 
He is a man who participates in all our relative circum- 
stances. He, like ourselves, is closely allied by blood, 
affection, and tenderness to the circle in which he lives. 
He is a stranger to none of the sensibilities of our com- 
mon nature. He can feel the pain of separation, and 
taking leave of friends. In his bosom beats, in every 
respect, the heart of an ordinary member of the family 
circle. We can venture familiarly to approach him, and 
we feel our hearts drawn to him in so doing. It is not 
so with Elijah. He steps forth, gigantically conspicuous 
.above his age and generation. There is an imposing 
majesty in his whole character, which keeps everything 
about him at a distance.” * 

As we might suppose, the difference between Elijah 
and Elisha appears in their public life, as much as in 
their personal characteristics. The ministry of the one 
was a tornado, sweeping over the land, awakening and 
desolating. That of the other was like the steady blow- 
ing of a balmy Southern breeze, bringing life and glad- 
ness to a frozen world. Their official labors answered 
well to their respective names. “ Elijah ” means “ My 
God of power and his life is full of manifestations of 
supernatural power. “ Elisha ” signifies “ My God is 


* Krummacher’s “ Elijah the Tishbite,” page 255. 


Elijah and Elisha. 


i75 


salvation and such was his public career. It was a min- 
istry of salvation. Elijah was a destroyer ; Elisha a healer. 
The miracles of the one were, for the most part, wonder- 
works of judgment ; those of the other were, for the 
most part, miracles of mercy. The official life of the 
one, like a mountain torrent, — like the Jordan itself, 
hurried tumultuously along and was soon ended. That 
of the other, more like the Nile than the Jordan, moved 
more slowly and quietly along, more fertilizing, and 
blessed, and not less powerful. Thirty years were enough 
for the one ; sixty years were required for the work of 
the other. 

Elijah appears in his glory in the trial by fire upon Mt. 
Carmel. It is the acme and culmination of his illus- 
trious career. It is the most thoroughly, representative 
scene in his entire life. He was alone. As he supposed, 
he was almost the only servant of Jehovah in the whole 
kingdom. And yet Elijah is bold enough to challenge 
the whole host of idolaters and priests of Baal. He 
said to the king, “ Send, and gather to me all Israel unto 
Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred 
and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, 
which eat at Jezebel’s table.” He dares to meet them 
upon their own ground ; for Baal was the sun-god, or 
god of fire. And his* challenge is, “ The God that an- 
swereth by fire, let him be God.” He dares to give his 
enemies every advantage in the contest. The false 
priests and prophets shall have the first and most favor- 
able opportunity to secure the flaming answer from the 
skies. And when Elijah’s turn came, he will give them 
still every advantage. And so again and again the altar 


176 


Companion Characters. 


and sacrifice of the lone prophet is deluged with water. 
And only now, after his enemies have signally failed, and 
every possible suspicion of fraud is removed from his 
offering, does Elijah come forward with his simple and 
believing prayer, “ Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of 
Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Is- 
rael, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all 
these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me ; 
that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, 
and that thou hast turned their heart back again.” The 
prayer was ended ; and immediately the fire came down 
and consumed the prophet’s sacrifice. The people were 
astonished, and, falling upon their faces, shouted, “ Je- 
hovah, he is the God! Jehovah, he is the God!” Sin- 
gle-handed and alone Elijah met them all ; and in the 
omnipotence of Jehovah the God of Israel, he conquered. 
It was a day of grand triumph for the prophet of fire. 
He seems to have expected that it would work a revo- 
lution in the kingdom, overthrow idolatry, and lead to a 
thorough reformation of true religion. We shall yet 
have occasion to notice the prophet’s great disappoint- 
ment dn this respect. 

We search in vain for any such central and decisive 
contest in the life of Elisha. Indeed, we hardly meet 
any evidence whatever of the existence of a contest be- 
tween this prophet and the idolatrous tendency of his 
times. Elijah’s ministry was a constant fretting and 
chafing with this spirit, especially as exhibited by the 
rulers. We find nothing of the kind in the ministry of 
Elisha. He, too, came into contact with kings : but no 
fiery denunciation of their sins comes from his lips. His 


Elijah and Elisha. 


177 


life is full of charming incidents ; but it makes no such 
grand impression upon us as Elijah’s does. The narra- 
tive is full of interest, when it tells of Naaman the Syr- 
ian leper, and of simple pathos, where it details the ex 
periences of the man of God in the house of the Sh’u- 
namite ; but it never rises to the intense tragic interest 
of Elijah’s triumph on Carmel, nor sinks to the level of 
his despondency at Horeb. Yet this is the law of all 
history. The most uninteresting annals of a people re- 
fer to their most happy and prosperous times. Elisha’s 
ministry, less remarkable, was more fruitful than Elijah’s. 

And yet the ministry of Elijah was not in vain. Nor 
was it even less necessary than his successor’s. We shall 
misjudge Elijah’s life, if we count it a failure, as com- 
pared with Elisha’s. The upturnings of spring are not 
so evidently fruitful as the quiet growth and ripening of 
summer: yet where were the latter without the former? 
It is safe to say that Elisha harvested Elijah’s sowing. 
This, too, is no uncommon occurrence. God is ever- 
more sending forth His servants in this order. The 
Elijahs go before the Elishas. To reverse the order 
would be to send autumn before spring. God makes no 
such mistake. 

To a church oftentimes God sends an Elijah, — a 
prophet of fire. His ministry is like a storm in the 
world of nature. He proclaims the law and all its ter- 
rors with clearness and power. With strong unswerving 
ploughshare he breaks up the fallow ground. The re- 
sults are not doubtful ; and they are promising. Men’s 
consciences are troubled. Their carnal peace is dis- 
turbed. With vague expectations they begin to probe 
8 * 


173 


Companion Characters. 


their own spirits. And the most casual inspection of the 
state of things in such a church would lead one to say, 
Such a ministry will be greatly rewarded. But as a mat- 
ter of fact, it is comparatively barren of results. Fol- 
lowing such a man of God comes an Elisha. The first 
swing of his scythe brings down the ripened grain. No 
such tumult and commotion attend this ministry as was 
witnessed in the other and earlier instance ; but from the 
first it is laden with blessing to all who come under its 
benign influences. 

This difference in results is largely traceable to the 
difference in the men. As a general rule, ministers are 
either one or the other. At least, they are strongest 
either in the direction of Elijah’s strength, or of Elisha’s. 
The^ are exceedingly rare who approach the many- 
sidedness of our Lord,< — who are Elijahs and Elishas 
combined. Not many such are made. It is vain to 
seek for them. It is vain to expect the one to be the 
other. Something, it is true, may be accomplished by 
effort and experience ; but the original nature is there 
still. The messenger of God is usually either a Boan- 
erges, or a Barnabas — a son of thunder, or a son of con- 
solation. He is either an Elijah, or an Elisha, — a mes- 
senger of the “ God of power,” or of the “ God of sal- 
vation.” His great strength lies in preaching either the 
law, or the Gospel. 

We can not but notice the parallel between Elijah and 
John the Baptist. Indeed, we have the Divine warrant 
for saying that John is the Elijah of the New Testa- 
ment. The two men resembled each other in character. 
Both were men who lived apart from their fellow-men. 


Elijah and Elisha. 


179 


Both were similarly clad, and were brought up in the 
wilderness. The key-note of the ministry of each was 
the one word “ Repent.” Both visited the sins and corrup- 
tions of their times with unsparing denunciations. Both 
rebuked the profligacy of kings with unflinching bold- 
ness. Both awakened an astonishing degree of interest 
and even excitement throughout the entire land. Both 
saw this interest die away in seemingly utter — at least 
comparative — fruitlessness. Both, at one period of their 
respective ministries, succeeding their greatest triumphs, 
were plunged into the deepest despondency. Both could 
find the reason of their discouragement in mistaken no- 
tions of the way in which the kingdom of God is to be 
established on earth. And both introduced a ministry 
of far quieter character, but of vastly more productive 
power. 

Can we not, also, in some measure trace a similar par- 
allel between the ministry of Elisha, and that of our 
Lord Jesus Christ? In both cases, a ministry of the 
“ God of salvation,” is it altogether a fancy that sees in 
the prophet an adumbration of his Lord ? The one, as 
the other, lived as a man among men, not like Elijah 
apart from men, ascetic — an anchorite — but full of human 
sympathies, and entering into all the minutiae of a suf- 
fering and sorrowing life. The miracles of the one, as 
of the other, were generally of a merciful character, — 
healing the sick, giving bread to the hungry, and raising 
the dead. The one, as the other, seldom uttered the 
language of threatening; and, trusting rather to the 
silent and pervasive power . of truth, scattered in quiet- 
ness and gentleness the seed of eternal life. 


Companion Characters. 


180 

We need not trace the parallel any further. It is of 
more importance for us to attend to some of the lessons 
of this contrast between these two prophets of Israel, — 
Elijah and Elisha. As we might suppose, this part of 
the subject is fruitful in suggestions of inestimable value. 

I. For one thing, we must not judge the condition of 
the spiritual kingdom by external appearances. This 
was Elijah’s mistake. The state of true religion in 
Israel was bad enough, no doubt ; but to Elijah’s mind 
it was vastly worse than the actual fact. He was 
brought in contact with the rulers, and saw chiefly the 
outward and formal condition of the church : and he 
thought it was a mass of corruption, that all men had 
become apostate, and that he only was left of all the 
servants of the true God. And, therefore, he was over- 
whelmed with discouragement. Alone at the cave’s 
mouth in Horeb, he cried in bitter agony to Jehovah for 
help Divine. But the prophet was mistaken. Beneath 
all the godlessness and profligacy of men in official station, 
there was an undercurrent of humble and abiding loyalty 
to the God of Israel. Seven thousand, at least, were 
there, who had not bowed the knee to Baal. 

This lesson is pertinent to our times, as truly as to 
the prophet’s day. Some of us, perhaps, may be in dan- 
ger of committing Elijah’s mistake. The absence of 
manifest spiritual power in the churches, and the re- 
peated and shameless falls of men in the ministry, and 
the alleged and widely believed defection of men, of 
high official position, from the path of integrity ; — all 
these things, it can not be denied, are leading many to 
ask in alarm whether the Church of Christ is not herself 


Elijah and Elisha. 


181 


drifting from her moorings, and whether the spirit of 
true religion is not dying out of a nominally Christian 
land. We need not be alarmed: and we shall not be, if 
we look below the surface. In our days, as in the days 
of the prophet, we shall not find true religion flourish- 
ing among the great ones of the earth, and on the face 
of society. It is in lowly hearts, and in the quiet family 
life of tens of thousands of people, that we shall find 
the most convincing proofs that the Spirit of life and 
grace still dwells with His chosen Church. 

This fact it is of immense moment for us to consider, 
not only that we may correctly judge of the Church’s 
condition ; but also, and especially, that we may be able 
to take the most efficient steps to arrest the incipient 
decay of her spiritual life. The dying branches on the 
great tree will be marked by two notable characteris- 
tics, — the absence of fruit, and the presence of colors 
painted by the angel of death. And there may be many 
of them on the grand old trunk ; while yet the tree lives, 
and brings forth abundant fruit. But when the tree be- 
gins to die at the root, the end is sad, but inevitable. In 
like manner there may be godlessness and formality and 
worldliness on the -high places of the land; while a true 
and vital Christianity may nevertheless flourish in a 
multitude of places throughout the country. But when 
piety dies out of lowly hearts and homes, — when the 
holy influences of the Sabbath become only a memory 
in the household, — when the family altars begin to 
crumble, — when the love of the dying Christ ceases to 
be a benison to the heart, — and when purity, truth, and 
charity cease to mark the dealings of man with man ; — 


Companion Characters. 


182 

then, indeed, may we begin to lose hope for the cause 
of Christ on earth. The tree is dying at the root. 
Only the most vigorous and combined Divine forces 
and human activities can arrest the process of decay 
and send forth the currents of a new and better life. 

Would we then give the Church new life and power 
in the earth? We shall not act wisely in seeking for her 
the places of honor and might among the great ones of 
the world. The fire burns best when kindled from be- 
low. The work must begin at home. In the heart of 
the individual, in the privacy of the family circle, and in 
the faithful praying band, the process of invigoration 
and reviving must begin. The ever-widening waves may 
wash most distant shores ; but they must start from the 
one center. 

This suggests another lesson from the lives and times 
of these prophets of Israel, equally pertinent to our 
modern days, viz. — 

II. We must not misjudge God's way of building up 
His Church in the world. The vision of Horeb is full 
of instruction for all time. The whirlwind, and the 
earthquake, and the fire may pass over the land, and 
accomplish their Divine Master’s purposes. But the 
work of upbuilding and salvation must be done by 
“ the still small voice.” “ The kingdom of God com- 
eth not with observation.” Its grandest triumphs are 
not to be seen in the astonished multitude before 
the trial by fire; but in the unassuming ministry of 
Elisha, — not in the hosannas of rejoicing thousands on 
Olivet, but in the burning hearts of the lowly com- 
pany that gathered around the once stricken and now 


Elijah and Elisha. 


183 

risen Saviour. The true temple of the Prince of Peace 
must rise evermore through the ages, “ without the noise 
of hammer, or axe, or any tool of iron.” Silently, slowly, 
and surely it shall grow to its glorious completion. 

How slow we are to learn this lesson ! And how 
humbling it is to the pride of man to have to learn it ! 
We are born materialists. We take the most delight in 
that which we can see and hear and handle. That prog- 
ress of the Church, therefore, which we can measure 
with our materialistic standards, we can appreciate. 
Those methods, of building up and extending the king- 
dom of Christ, which our senses can lay hold of, we be- 
lieve in. But all other progress and methods of prog- 
ress we distrust, and turn away from with disappoint- 
ment. We must see the scaffolding about the building, — 
we must hear the noise of hammer, and axe, and every 
tool of iron, — we must ourselves have the handling of 
those tools, — or we can not believe that the temple is 
rising to its beautiful and preappointed perfectness. 

This is the grievous mistake of men of the world. 
They judge of the advance of the cause of the Lord on 
earth by the noise that is made. They are accustomed 
to regard those only as accomplishing anything whose 
names are constantly before the public, and upon whose 
ministry the godless, and, alas ! unhungering thousands 
wait. But Christian people ought to be delivered from 
such an error and sin, — for sin it is. The true, spiritual, 
and abiding work of the Church is ever done in quiet- 
ness. The Church of God, unlike the iceberg in every 
other respect, must resemble it in one. Its glittering, 
snowy pinnacles may pierce the sky and point to the 


Companion Characters. 


184 

stars ; but by far the larger part must always lie beneath 
the waves. So long as this is so, she will ride the storm- 
iest sea in safety, and with a grand triumph ; but when it 
ceases to be so, she will certainly topple over in an over- 
whelming ruin. The quiet, unobserved, unchronicled 
ministry of Elisha is ever more fruitful than the more 
notable work of his predecessor. The exciting, tumultu- 
ous, and speedy course of John the Baptist is barren of the 
blessed results that follow the gentle ministry of David’s 
Son and Lord, — the long-expected Christ of God. 

Most impressively is this lesson emphasized in the 
New Testament references to Elijah. In the annals of 
the Old Testament he is so presented that we get the 
impression of his unapproachable greatness, which we 
have been at pains to delineate in the preceding pages. 
But we get no such idea of him from the allusions of 
the writers of the New Testament to this prophet. 
With the single exception in Luke (ix. 54), where refer- 
ence is made to his calling down fire from heaven, no- 
where do the writers of the Gospels and Epistles refer 
to his works of destruction or portent at all. “ They 
all set forth a very different side of his character to that 
brought out in the historical narrative. They speak of 
his being ‘a man of like passions with ourselves’; of 
his kindness to the widow of Sarepta ; of his ‘ restoring 
all things ’; and of his ‘ turning the hearts of the fathers 
to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of 
the just.’ ” That which Elijah did in public, and be- 
fore the king, and through which he becomes so re- 
nowned in history, — this is entirely overlooked in the 
later story. But the things which he did in quietness, 


Elijah and Elisha. 


185 


unknown and unobserved of men, and for which they 
gave him no praise in his own generation, — these are 
the things seized upon by the New Testament writers; 
and by these examples from his life is his character 
commended to our notice and study. In the New Testa- 
ment conception, Elijah praying for rain, for the dis- 
tressed and sinful land, on the slope of Carmel, is a 
more impressive figure than Elijah denouncing the sins 
of Ahab in the vineyard of Naboth, or slaughtering the 
priests of Baal and Ashtoreth beside the brook Kishon. 
In one word, the work of God is best done in silence 
and quietness. 

“ The kingdom of God cometh not with observation.” 
So must it come to the heart of the unconverted. How 
'difficult for men to believe this ! Multitudes are wait- 
ing for some wonderful display of Divine power, which 
shall not only conquer all the opposition of their hearts, 
but also make its heavenly character and origin unmistak- 
ably and publicly manifest. But from year to year they 
are disappointed ; and still in sadness they are waiting. 
The kingdom never so comes to the heart. Not in the 
terrors of some miraculous display, but in the gentle 
pleading and persuasive power of the Holy Spirit’s “still 
small voice,” — in this way only does it come. It is this 
voice that now perhaps is wooing you, my friend, to 
Christ, and life, and rest. Oh that you would be per- 
suaded and listen to its quiet and loving tones. 

III. We must learn to distinguish between apparent 
a?id real success in doing the Lord's work. A super- 
ficial view of Elijah’s life would find the greatest suc- 
cess of his ministry in the tumultuous applause of the 


Companion Characters. 


i 86 

people on Mt. Carmel. A profounder study of his 
times and work will bring us to a different conclusion. 
The prophet’s real success is to be seen in the silent, 
loving, and to him unknown fidelity of the seven 
thousand who obeyed still the Lord God of Israel, — 
the God whom the prophet worshiped and served. 
Among them doubtless the faithful life of Elijah, and 
his bold battle with the enemies of Jehovah, were a 
tower of strength and defence. It was never given the 
prophet to know, but who can doubt the fact, that these 
believing thousands were mightily moulded in character 
and confirmed in right ways, by the shining example of 
the lone prophet ! 

There is an apparent and a real success in the life of 
every one of us. Let us not be blinded by the glowing 
appearance of the one, nor discouraged because we can 
not see the full measure of the other. That father has 
accomplished what the world calls success, who has edu- 
cated and trained his son for an ambitious destiny among 
the great ones of the world. It is nothing to him or to 
them that his son is absorbingly selfish, and even un- 
scrupulous in the use of means by which to bring about 
his own advancement. He has nurtured him on this 
food, and drilled him in the use of all such arts. He 
has fired his ambition, and stimulated every energy of 
his nature, to reach forward and grasp the glittering 
prizes of earthly fame and wealth and pleasure. And 
when at last the goal is reached, both father and son are 
congratulated, and congratulate themselves, upon the 
fine success of their joint endeavors. But in point of 
fact a more stupendous failure can not be imagined. 


Elijah and Elisha. 


187 

That life, so assiduously trained and developed, has 
come far short of all life’s holiest aims and ends. The 
end sought indeed, has been obtained ; but how pitifully 
small the outcome for a soul of such vast capacities, and 
fitted for an endless destiny ! 

That mother to whom God has entrusted the train- 
ing and guidance of a gifted daughter, accomplishes a 
real success, who is most anxious to secure the engraft- 
ing and growth of spiritual graces upon the character of 
her child. With unfailing faith and patience she seeks 
to turn the plastic mind away from the “ vain show ” of 
an ease-loving and self-seeking course. Possessing her- 
self a spirit that penetrates to the heart of life, she seeks 
to have her daughter estimate at their real worth the 
flatteries of men, and to detect the certain hollowness 
of those tributes which the world pays to beauty, wit, 
and station. Having respect to the recompense of the 
reward, she endeavors to lead her child to choose present 
self-denial and even affliction with the people of God, 
rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. 
The long, slow, toiling years pass away ; and hope de- 
ferred maketh the heart sick : but the great and worthy 
end is gained at last. The world may look upon that 
mother’s life as a failure ; but beyond the stars approv- 
ing smiles and a welcome plaudit await the faithful 
servant. That mother’s life has been, in the highest, 
noblest sense of the term, a successful one. 

So there is a lesson here for all. For teachers,* who 


* Adapted from Robertson’s “ Elijah,” — Sermons. Second Series, 
No. 6. 


1 88 


Companion Characters. 


lay their heads down at night, sickening over their 
thankless tasks. How difficult to train the youthful 
mind and heart aright ! How slowly the germs of men- 
tal and moral character develop themselves in those we 
are to teach. We must think less of immediate and 
tangible results, and more of that success which the 
superficial eye can never see. We must remember the 
power of indirect influences ; those which distil from a 
life, not from a sudden, brilliant effort. The former 
seldom fail ; the latter often do. Success for all such 
lies in that invisible influence on character which He 
alone can read who counted the seven thousand name- 
less but faithful ones in Israel. 

For ministers, too, there is a lesson here. What is 
ministerial success ? Does it consist in crowded churches, 
— full aisles, — attentive congregations, — the approval of 
the religious world, — much impression produced, — and 
a name renowned throughout the land? Elijah thought 
so : and, when he found out his mistake, and discovered 
that the applause on Carmel was subsiding into hideous 
stillness, his heart well-nigh broke with disappointment. 
God deliver His servants from making the prophet's 
mistake. God teach His servants that true ministerial 
success lies not in that which attracts the attention and 
wins the praises of the world, but in altered and obe- 
dient, humble hearts ; — work unseen by unspiritual eyes, 
which yet shall be recognized and acknowledged in the 
great day of final judgment. 


X. 


JEHOIADA AND JOASH. 

I N the history of Jehoiada and Joash we traverse the 
darkest period in the chronicles of the monarchy in 
Jerusalem. We are still in the gloomy century so won- 
derfully illustrated and illuminated by the contrasted 
ministries of Elijah and Elisha. Elijah has been taken 
to heaven in his chariot of fire. His successor is busy 
discharging the duties of his office in the northern king- 
dom, when the little Prince Joash is crowned king in 
Jerusalem ; and the men come into view with whom we 
are now specially concerned. 

It was the mdst critical period for the throne of David 
of which the historian gives us any information. The 
southern realm had seen trouble before, and saw much 
more afterward ; but just at this juncture it seemed as 
if the very promise of God was about to be broken. 
Jehovah had sworn with a solemn oath to David, — 
“ His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the 
sun before me. It shall be established forever as the 
moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven.” The promise 
was, after all, fulfilled in the unbroken line of David’s 
posterity down to the Messiah’s day ; and the Lord 
Christ now sits upon the throne of David forever. But, 

(189) 


Companion Characters. 


190 

at this particular period in the history, the long succes- 
sion was well-nigh broken, and the seed of David had 
almost perished from the earth. All had been cut off, 
save one infant boy, who, through the intervention of 
Divine Providence, escaped the general massacre. Hid 
away from all his enemies, though like Moses nourished 
and brought up in the midst of enemies, he came at last 
to the throne of his fathers. 

The history is full of tragic interest. It is dwelt upon 
by the inspired penman, as if to emphasize for us its 
solemn lessons. The origin of these troublous times, 
and of their brood of evils, is worthy of consideration. 
Like many godly people in our day, who, for temporal 
gain, seek worldly connections for their children, Jehosh- 
aphat, the king of Judah, himself a good and able sov- 
ereign, and a true servant of Jehovah, sought an alliance 
for his family with the idolatrous house of Ahab. His 
motive was probably a good one. He seems to have 
hoped that thus he might heal the schism between Judah 
and Israel, and bring back the revolted tribes to their 
former allegiance to the monarchy in Jerusalem, and to 
the worship of Jehovah in the services of the temple. 
So he sought in marriage for his son Jehoram, Athaliah, 
the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel — that Zidonian Jez- 
ebel, whose influence, as we have already seen, was so 
disastrous to the spiritual welfare of Israel. Athaliah 
was the worthy daughter of such a mother. 

From that union, as from a bloody fountain, flows a 
crimson tide, of which history to that time furnishes 
perhaps no parallel. Royal blood was hardly ever shed 
so profusely as during the twenty-five years succeeding 


Jehoiada and Jo ash. 


19 


Jehoram’s accession to the throne of Judah. Instigated, 
in all probability, by his wife, he signalized his assump- 
tion of regal powers by killing all his brethren, the sons 
of Jehoshaphat. In the course of time, the Arabians — 
Bedouins of the desert probably — carried away captive 
all of Jehoram’s children, except his youngest son,, 
Ahaziah. In the northern kingdom, almost at the same 
time, Jehu destroyed all the house of Ahab, except 
Athaliah, Jehoram’s wife ; and soon after also killed his 
only remaining son, Ahaziah. And now the daughter 
of Jezebel, Athaliah, true to her nature and training, 
finding her husband dead, and her son dead, impelled 
partly by revenge, and more perhaps by that lust for 
power, which she had inherited from her mother, rose 
up, and “ destroyed all the seed royal of the house of 
Judah”; and grasped the reigns of supreme dominion 
for herself. It was the first change in the dynasty that 
had ruled in Jerusalem, while in the northern kingdom 
the fourth distinct family now occupied the throne. 

But God will not suffer His promise to be broken. 
For a little while the usurper may hold her place and 
power ; but the wheel of Providence is already begin- 
ning to revolve, which shall bring her to the dust. Thus 
it came about. Jehoshabeath, half-sister of the dead 
Ahaziah, and daughter of the usurper’s husband, had 
married Jehoiada the priest, who, perhaps about this 
time, became the High-Priest. It was she who took the 
infant Joash, son of Ahaziah, and concealed him in a 
bed-chamber in the temple. And there he remained, 
with his nurse, securely cared for in that strange obscur- 
ity, for six years. The idolatrous Athaliah worshiped 


192 


Companion Characters. 


in the temple of Baal, and of course never visited the 
sanctuary of Jehovah. So, for years, by the friends ap- 
pointed of God, Joash was nurtured. And, when seven 
years old, by the wise counsels and successful plans of 
Jehoiada the priest, he was securely seated upon the 
throne of David. The bold, bad queen, defiant to the 
last like her mother before her, like her also met her 
doom in ignominy and blood. For forty years Joash 
reigned in Jerusalem. During the earlier, perhaps the 
larger, part of his reign, he received the counsel and 
assistance of his benefactor. The two men — Jehoiada 
and Joash — are now before us: let us look at them. 

Jehoiada is a man well advanced in years when his 
nephew comes to the throne. He was a man of un- 
flinching uprightness, and devoted religious principle. 
His position in the wicked capital, during the reign of 
the last king, and the usurpation of Athaliah, had been 
one of extreme difficulty. In some respects, it resem- 
bled that of Joseph in Egypt, and of Obadiah in the 
councils of Ahab, and of Daniel in the court of Baby- 
lon. In all these instances, these counsellors of kings 
seem to stand forth almost alone, the unwavering and 
acknowledged servants of the Most High God, in the 
midst of abounding idolatry. The other three mani- 
fested such extraordinary executive talents, that, not- 
withstanding their devotion to the true religion, they 
were regarded as indispensable to the service of their 
idol-worshiping rulers. Jehoiada had not yet been called 
to the responsible post of prime minister in the court of 
Jerusalem. But he was as well qualified for it as Joseph 
or Obadiah had been, or as Daniel afterward became. 


Jehoiada and Joash. 


193 


But up to the reign of Joash, no such position had been 
offered to the able and pious priest. The former king, 
Ahaziah, father of Joash, had such a counsellor as the 
sacred narrative gives to no other sovereign of either 
Judah or Israel. The inspired penman says, “ His 
mother ” — the infamous Athaliah — “ was his counsellor 
to do wickedly ! ” 

With the accession of Joash to the throne, a new 
order of things is instituted. Jehoiada had done much 
for the youthful sovereign. He had guarded his life and 
interests from the rapacious monster who had destroyed 
all the other children of her own son. He had estab- 
lished him in his kingdom. He had caused the overthrow 
and death of the usurper. And now, having done so 
much for his nephew, it was but natural that Jehoiada 
should be called to the position of chief counsellor to 
the young king. Indeed, he was virtually regent during 
the minority of his relative. It seems probable that for 
nearly twenty-five years of the forty during which 
Joash occupied the throne, Jehoiada the priest was his 
counsellor to do that which was right. And he did it, 
though not with a perfect heart. The temple of Baal 
was broken down : and that daring form of idolatry by 
which Judah was becoming so intimately allied to Israel, 
was, for the time, exterminated. The temple of Jehovah 
was repaired, — the true worship was reorganized, — and 
the people were called to renew their solemn covenant 
to be Jehovah’s servants. The reformation was less ex- 
tensive and thorough than those in the succeeding reigns 
of Hezekiah and Josiah; but it was a great improve- 
ment upon the godlessness and corruption of Athaliah’s 


9 


194 


Companion Characters. 


day.. It did not, however, reach the masses of the peo- 
ple ; and it seems to have gone as far as it did, mainly 
through the untiring efforts of one man. That one man 
was Jehoiada the priest. We shall yet have occasion to 
observe why it failed. 

Under the sovereignty of Joash, and especially under 
the wise and benign counsels of his uncle, the kingdom 
of Judah flourished in quietness for a quarter of a cent- 
ury. In all external appearances the true religion con- 
tinued to prosper. But good men must die ; and the 
time came for Jehoiada to be gathered to his fathers. 
Having attained a fulness of years and honors alike un- 
stained, he died at a good old age. The people, as is 
not unusual, unwilling to follow his good counsels, with 
a whole heart, while he was living, took occasion of his 
death to heap up extraordinary honors upon his memory. 
The only one in the entire history to whom this mark of 
high respect was shown, “ they buried him in the city of 
David among the kings, because he had done good in 
Israel, both toward God, and toward his house.” 

Joash, bereft now of his wise and able counsellor, is 
left to reign alone. A result is reached, not unlike 
that which marked the fall of Aaron before Mt. Sinai. 
The priest and the king had both been leaning upon 
a stronger arm. And, when the support of a Moses 
and a Jehoiada was taken away, they fell. And both 
were inexcusable. Had Joash fallen in his earlier years, 
we should have felt more pity for him. Jehoiada himself 
may have been somewhat to blame. With great admin- 
istrative abilities himself, he may have lifted the burden 
too much from the shoulders of his nephew, so that he 


Jehoiada and Joash. 


195 


came to the sole exercise of authority unprepared for 
it. But he ought to have been prepared. The long 
years of tutelage under his uncle, and the memory of 
his example, should have fitted him thoroughly for wisely 
administering the complicated affairs of the realm. But 
they did not. 

Upon the death of the old high-priest, it soon became 
apparent that he had been the mainspring of the great 
religious reformation. Under the king’s personal in- 
fluence a new regime is allowed. As in the days of Re- 
hoboam, in the preceding century, the young men — • 
nobles and princes of the blood — gathered around the yet 
young sovereign ; and with artful flatteries seduced him 
from the safe following of the wise counsels of Jehoiada. 
The worshipers of idols multiplied, having now, first the 
royal permission, and then the royal sanction, for their 
impure and abominable rites. The house of the Lord 
was again forsaken. The throne was committed to all 
the impiety and corruption which at first it had con- 
demned. Joash went even further. Despising the 
counsels of his deceased uncle, he also mocked the mes- 
sengers of Jehovah ; and crowned the iniquity of his 
life, by ordering to be stoned to death the son of his 
benefactor, who came as a prophet, with words of warn- 
ing from the God of Israel. 

This last event seems to have made a deep impression 
upon even that wicked generation. And, as if it were the 
last great act of national impiety, it is coupled by Christ 
with the murder of Abel — the extremes of a bloody 
record written against the guilty Jewish people ; — “ That 
upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the 


196 Companion Characters. 

earth, from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zach- 
arias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple 
and the altar.” The malediction of the dying prophet 
was expressed in the mildest words. He simply said, 
“ The Lord look upon it, and require it.” But it proved 
a curse, under the weight of which the guilty sovereign 
went hastening to a violent death and a dishonorable 
grave. His enemies prevailed against him. The Lord 
smote him with sore diseases — the natural punishment, 
perhaps, of an impure life. His own servants conspired 
against him ; and, entering the bed-chamber of the in- 
valid, slew him there, avenging thus the blood of the 
son of his benefactor. And even in his burial he was 
treated with ignominy. That burial was in marked con- 
trast with the funeral of his aged and honored counsellor. 
Jehoiada was not of royal blood, but he was buried among 
the kings. But Joash, though a prince of the house 
of David, is denied a sepulchre among his royal fathers. 
Like his grandfather before him, he “ departed without 
being desired.” His very name is one of three that are 
significantly blotted out of the genealogical table of 
our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. A dreadful end was this 
of a life and reign which began so auspiciously and 
promised so well ! The sad story is full of meaning. 
It is fraught with lessons of vast moment, to the instruc- 
tion of which we shall do well to take solemn heed. A 
review of the salient points of this history will be suf- 
ficient to show, 

I. For one thing , that zeal for the external affairs of 
religion is not necessarily religion. We have already 
seen that Jehoiada was the principal agent in carrying 


Jehoiada and Joash. 


197 


on the religious reformation of the kingdom. At the 
very beginning, when they brought forth the young 
king from his six years’ concealment in the temple, and 
put the crown upon him, it was Jehoiada who “gave 
him the testimony,” — that is, put in his hands the 
copy of the law of God, which the king was required 
by the Mosaic institutes to have and to read. It was 
Jehoiada who made “a covenant between him, and be- 
tween all the people, and between the king, that they 
should be the Lord’s people.” It was the faithful 
Jehoiada who appointed again the offices of the house 
of the Lord, as “ they had been ordained by David.” 
And it was his assiduous care that nothing impure should 
enter into the holy precincts of the temple, where 
Jehovah had said He would set His own holy name. 
Jehoiada did all this. Joash was rather a passive instru- 
ment in his hands, not only while he was young, but 
also later in his history. 

In the progress of the work, however, the young king 
became very zealous for the speedy refitting of the tem- 
ple. He was so anxious to have the outward form of 
worship reorganized, that he even took it upon himself 
to rebuke the high-priest Jehoiada for the delay which 
characterized the work. The language of the record is 
brief, but very suggestive. “It came to pass after this, that 
Joash was minded to repair the house of the Lord. And 
he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said 
to them, Go out unto the cities of Judah, and gather of 
all Israel money to repair the house of your God from 
year to year, and see that ye hasten the matter. Howbeit 
the Levites hastened it not. And the king called for 


Companion Characters. 


198 

Jehoiada the chief, and said unto him, Why hast thou 
not required of the Levites to bring in, out of Judah 
and Jerusalem, the collection, according to the command- 
ment of Moses the servant of the Lord, and of the con- 
gregation of Israel, for the tabernacle of witness?” In 
the light of Jehoiada’s former well-known zeal, and of 
the king’s subsequent conduct, the scene here portrayed 
is both curious and instructive. 

Knowing what we now do of the king’s real character, 
we might say, at first thought, in the language of the 
proverb, “ Satan is rebuking sin.” And such judgment 
would not perhaps be far wrong. Yet, in so saying, we 
may misunderstand and misjudge the character of Joash 
(as indeed also that of his uncle) at this period of his 
life. No matter what he afterward became, he was not, 
at this time, perhaps, either a hypocrite or a very bad 
man. He was young and zealous. Though largely 
under the influence of Jehoiada, he seems to have 
thought his uncle too slow in this particular direction. 
Like some young men of some other times, he had the 
impression that the administration would be benefited 
by a little infusion of young blood. 

But, like all misguided zealots, his mind was most 
occupied with the appearance of religious matters. He 
was concerned, not so much about the low state of re- 
ligion throughout the kingdom, as about the dilapidated 
condition of the temple. His uncle was wiser because 
more spiritually minded. He saw that the external ap- 
pearance would take its form from the internal state of 
religion. Leaving the former, therefore, for the present, he 
gave his attention chiefly to the latter. He was in no 


Jehoiada and Joash. 


199 


hurry about repairing the temple, but aimed to quicken 
the religious life of the people. He knew that this rehabili- 
tation of the house of God would come in due time as 
the natural and inevitable outgrowth of this revival of 
interest in the service of God. 

Just here the superficial religious zeal of the young king 
came into derange the far-sighted plan of Jehoiada. He 
must “set the house of God in his state.” And under 
his influence the attention of the people was turned 
away from genuine and thorough penitence for their sins 
and reformation of their lives, to the merely material 
refitting of the temple. This was a work they could do 
without any specially spiritual frame of mind. And, of 
course therefore, it was a work much more congenial to 
their carnal hearts ; while yet it served as an anodyne to 
their consciences. They were not really turning from 
their darling sins; and still they could say, as Jehu was 
saying in Samaria about this same period, “ Come with 
me, and see my zeal for the Lord.” It seems not un- 
likely that the comparative failure of the religious reform 
was, in a large measure, due to this disastrous prevalence 
of superficial zeal. 

The world is full of Joashes! A multitude they are, 
who seem to think of the Church as a great external 
kingdom, rather than as an invisible and spiritual realm. 
Their labors are expended, not in deepening the religious 
life of Zion, but in building up her outer walls. The 
result is inevitable. The outside is beautiful. But be- 
neath and within the fair exterior, an occasional glimpse 
will disclose an alarming state of impurity. The Church 
is not a temple of mere brick and stone, to be built up 


200 


Companion Characters. 


from the outside ! It is rather a living tree, whose leaves 
are for “ the healing of the nations.” Nourish and in- 
vigorate the living sap that flows through every member, 
and you need not trouble yourself to be setting on a 
branch here and there from the outside ! By the law of 
its own interior life, it will grow to a glorious beauty and 
a spiritual perfectness ! The great want of the Church, 
of our day, is not more stones in the wall, but more of 
the Holy Spirit in her members! We need less of the 
influence of Joash, and more of the labors of Jehoiada! 

II. For another thing ; that religious principle alone 
can be a sufficient safeguard for us , especially when sur- 
rounded by flatterers . Joash is, in this respect, a sug- 
gestive warning to young men and women. With most 
auspicious beginnings, his life terminated disastrously 
and terribly. Carefully nurtured and religiously trained, 
he yet came to the throne destitute of religious princi- 
ple. As soon, therefore, as the crowd of parasites and 
flatterers could get access to him (which they succeeded 
in doing on the death of Jehoiada), they found it no 
difficult task to turn his head with their artful adulations. 
He had no substructure of solid piety in his character; 
and when the incoming wave of unholy influences 
reached him, it swept him from his moorings. 

The force of this royal example lies in the fact, that 
Joash was not by any means a monster of wickedness, 
when, after the death of Jehoiada, “ the princes of Judah 
came and made obeisance to the king.” He was, on the 
whole, a well-disposed young man, such as we may meet 
every day. They come, as we say, from our “ best 


Jehoiada and Joash. 


201 


families/’ They are children, it may be, of religious 
people. Their early years are filled with memories of 
Gospel truth. But possessed of rather negative character- 
istics, easily influenced by their companions, too amiable 
and good-natured to say No, and possessing probably 
more money than is good for them, they become the 
easy prey of their designing comrades. These are like 
vultures scenting the carcass afar off. With an unerring 
instinct they crowd around him whom they call ‘ their 
friend,’ that they may gorge themselves upon his sub- 
stance. Like vampires, they gather from every quarter 
around their unsuspecting victim ; and, fanning him with 
gentlest zephyrs, gradually suck his life’s blood. They 
feed the flame of his vanity and self-importance, while 
they debauch his moral nature ; and forsake him at last, 
only when he has come to poverty, — a broken wreck 
stranded on the desolate shores of infamy and crime. 
This was the ruin of Joash. For the want of sustaining 
religious principle, the amiable and “ mighty good kind 
of a young man ” speedily ran his course of sin down to 
the lowest level ; and, finally, like his grandfather before 
him, “ departed without being desired.” 

One other lesson from the contrasted lives of Joash 
and Jehoiada must not be overlooked by us, viz. — 

III. We see the necessity of self-reliance in a relig- 
ious life . Of course, we mean self-reliance in relation 
to men. We never can rely too much upon God. The 
advantages of Christian communion and church so- 
ciety we must fully appreciate. God, who in the be- 
ginning “saw that it was not good for man to be 
alone,” and who “ setteth the solitary in families,” has 
9 * 


202 


Companion Characters. 


wisely appointed that our best interests and greatest 
progress in holy living shall be secured in the “ house- 
hold of faith.” And the day is gone by when any con- 
siderable body of men are willing to advocate turning 
aside to a hermit’s cell, to attain greater sanctity of 
heart or of life. The great danger of our day is in the 
opposite direction. Our Christian life is too public. It 
is so easy to depend upon others, and to seek from them 
that spiritual quickening and increasing warmth of spir- 
itual affections which can come only from the Holy 
Spirit. In the closeness and continuity of our Christian 
fellowship in these days, it is not difficult to secure for 
our devotion a factitious light and heat, which to many 
shall be the evident token of His presence and blessing, 
who alone baptizes with the Holy Ghost and with fire. 

While not undervaluing the advantages of fellowship 
with our brethren, we need seriously to ponder the ques- 
tion, How much does our religion depend upon our cir- 
cumstances? Many in our day are like Joash, — good, 
or bad, according to their surroundings. Under the in- 
fluence of pious Jehoiadas they are pious. Under the 
influence of wicked flatterers they are wicked. They 
are chameleon Christians : they take their color from the 
tree or branch to which they cling. Always leaning 
upon others, they are unable to stand alone. And the 
prevailing characteristics of their religious life are as vari- 
able as the influences to which they become subject. 
And if, at any time, they should be thrown into worldly 
circumstances and Christless society, you would never 
suspect that they were not in full sympathy with their 
surroundings, and with their unbelieving companions. 


Jehoiada and Joash. 


203 


Their life and character take shape and coloring from 
the influences round about them. 

Even if such people do not go so far as to deny their 
Christian name and hope, yet are they certain to fall 
when the strong support on which they have been lean- 
ing is taken away from them. When Jehoiada dies 
Joash is ruined. A few more years are all that is needed 
to tell the story. A suggestive incident, illustrative of 
this, is told of Dr. Finley, the first President of the Col- 
lege of New Jersey. He had an acquaintance and friend 
to whom he was much attached, and who in most re- 
spects seemed worthy of the President’s regard. But 
he was fast losing control of himself, and becoming ad- 
dicted to the use of intoxicating liquors. Dr. Finley 
saw the danger of his friend, and determined, if possi- 
ble, to save him. To accomplish this end, he exerted 
all the powers of his great intellect, and all the resources 
of learning that he could bring to bear upon his com- 
panion. He was successful ; and for years had the 
pleasure of seeing his friend successfully resisting his 
great temptation, and living an upright and apparently 
consistent Christian life. He uniformly attributed his 
rescue to the kind attentions of his learned friend. Un- 
consciously he came to rely upon Dr. Finley for the 
strength which he should have sought in God. When 
at last the President lay upon the bed of death, no one 
manifested more solicitude for the result than the re- 
formed drunkard. Daily he visited the house, and 
doubtless often the bedside of his benefactor, eagerly 
seeking tidings of his welfare. The end came at last : 
and to his inquiry one morning, “ How is Dr. Finley?’* 


204 


Companion Characters. 


receiving the answer, “ He is dead, sir,” he turned away 
with the sad, solemn cry, “Then I am a lost man.” He 
was a true prophet. He had been only a Joash; and 
when Jehoiada was dead, he gave way to the evil pas- 
sion which had well-nigh destroyed him. He, too, soon 
ran his course, and in a few brief years was laid in a 
drunkard’s grave. 

God grant that we may have “ the root of the matter ” 
within us, that so, when the time of trial comes, we may 
endure even unto the end. May His good Spirit help 
us, when removed from all sustaining influences, to re- 
member the significant words, which He inspired and 
caused to be recorded, — “And Joash did that which was 
right in the sight of the Lord, all the days of Jehoiada 
the priest.” 


XI. 


HAMAN AND MORDECAI. 

HE book of Esther, like the book of Ruth, is a 



small but finished picture. The chronicle opens 
with three notable scenes. The first is a description, 
brief but suggestive, of the royal feast, given by the 
king of Persia. Ahasuerus is the king, whom we know 
in the Grecian story as the capricious and domineering 
Xerxes. He had but recently come to the throne. The 
time here specified was about mid-way between his cor- 
onation and his disastrous expedition against the States 
of Greece. His resources, therefore, had not yet been 
wasted, as afterward they were, in the foolish extrava- 
gances of foreign wars. Lately come to the exercise of 
sovereign authority, and not old enough, perhaps, to 
have learned wisdom, and with abundant materials at his 
command, he gloried in his exalted place and despotic 
power. He seems to have craved the opportunity for 
making a public exhibition of his magnificence. He 
was himself a lover of feasting and revelry. He knew 
no better way to show forth his grandeur than to pro- 
claim a festal season “ unto all his princes and servants, 
the power of Persia and Media, with the nobles and 
princes of the provinces.” 


(205) 


20 6 


Companion Characters. 


This, therefore, he did. For six months the grandees 
of the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces gathered 
in “ Shushan the palace,” and celebrated the royal fes- 
tivities. But even this display did not satisfy the pas- 
sionate extravagance of the king. For seven days lon- 
ger the festal season must continue. The joyful time 
must culminate in a blaze of glory. All the people of 
the capital were to be there, both great and small. By 
royal command the banquet was spread in “ the court 
of the garden of the king’s palace.” It was a magnifi- 
cent place for such a feast, and doubtless was specially 
fitted up for such a memorable occasion. The brief 
language of the annalist gives us but a momentary 
glimpse of a scene, which in gorgeousness of coloring 
and magnificence of appointments in every way, rivals 
the brightest visions of the Arabian Nights. “There 
were white, green, and blue hangings, fastened with 
co-rds of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars 
of marble. The beds were of gold and silver, upon a 
pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black marble. 
And they gave them drink in vessels of gold (the vessels 
being diverse one from another), and royal wine in 
abundance, according to the state of the king.” The 
historian tells us, indeed, that the drinking was accord- 
ing to law ; “ none did compel ; for so the king had ap- 
pointed to all the officers of his house, that they should 
do according to every man’s pleasure.” But we may be 
sure that there was hardly any less of it because it was 
voluntary. It was a grand debauch. For one week the 
capital gave itself up to drinking and revelry. 

In this fact we have the introduction and explanation 


Haman and Mordecai. 207 

of the second scene in this oriental story. On the sev- 
enth and last day of the great feast, “ when the heart of 
the king was merry with wine,” Ahasuerus sent for 
Vashti. The queen had been in full sympathy with the 
royal desire and purpose to make the great festival one 
of conspicuous and universal pleasure. All that a woman 
might properly do to enhance the general joy, she was 
quite willing to undertake. And so it came about that, 
while the king was feasting the nobles of his realm and 
the people of his capital, the queen was also giving a 
feast and time of joy to “ the women in the royal house 
which belonged to King Ahasuerus.” But now the days 
of revelry have reached their culmination. The king 
and all the grandees of his empire are filled with wine. 
It was the sudden freak of a drunken man, applauded 
doubtless to the echo by his equally drunken courtiers, 
to command his chamberlains “to bring Vashti the 
queen before the king, with the crown royal, to shew the 
people and the princes her beauty ; for she was fair to 
look on.” Before a vast assembly of drunken revellers 
she was called to crown the festival with an exhibition 
of her personal charms. It was an unseemly thing to 
require. 

What it signified we may gather perhaps from a sim- 
ilar scene in a later* day. Herod the king also made a 
feast for “ his lords, high captains, and chief estates of 
Galilee.” They, too, became a set of drunken revellers : 
and before them in such a state, Herodias, who had her 
own ends to gain, sent her young and beautiful daugh- 
ter to gratify the sensual crowd with the meretricious 
arts of a dancing-girl. Drunkenness and lust, we may 


208 


Companion Characters. 


be sure, were allied sins in the court of Xerxes, as well 
as in the palace of Herod. And it was to gratify the 
impure eyes of tipsy sensualists that Vashti was now 
summoned to grace with her queenly beauty the bac- 
chanalian orgies of the palace garden. 

Can we wonder that she refused to obey the sum- 
mons ? She could hardly have been blind to the conse- 
quences of such a declinature. None knew better than 
she the despotic power of the Persian monarch, and the 
peril and danger of giving him any offence. For smaller 
faults than hers the heads of other queens had rolled 
from the flashing blade of the executioner’s scimetar. 
At the very least she could not expect anything less than 
the forfeiture of the royal favor, and the sacrifice of her 
exalted position. But she did not hesitate. Vashti was 
a pure-minded as well as beautiful woman ; and she 
would not disgrace herself, no matter what the penalty 
might be. All honor, we say, to the woman who did 
not shrink from such a trial, and who, in one brief mo- 
ment, surrendered the crown of Persia, that she might 
retain the priceless crown of modesty and virtue. 

This was the result. The third scene of the story 
tells the issue of this day’s business. As the curtain 
lifts once more before our eyes, we behold a solemn con- 
clave of the prime ministers of the kingdom debating 
the question, how best to prevent Vashti’s evil example 
from so spreading through the empire, that the women 
everywhere should get the upper hand of the men, and 
the evil day should come, when “ no man could bear rule 
in his own house.” It was surely a subject of vast mo- 
ment ! Such a calamity must be averted at any cost ! 


Haman and Mordecai. 


209 


The whole scene has a comical look ; and we can hardly 
resist the conviction that these wise men must have been 
still half-drunk, as, with lugubrious countenances, they 
sat around the council board, oppressed by this new and 
peculiar care. But plainly it is no joke with them : and 
after due deliberation, they come to the sage conclusion 
that the impending calamities can be averted only by 
dethroning and discrowning Vashti, and giving “ her 
royal estate unto another that is better than she.” So 
the pure and beautiful queen is sent away, and is heard 
of no more in the history. 

The cause was of the Lord. His providence was 
shaping Esther’s way to the throne, to be the instrument 
in His hand of saving His people. The particulars of 
this part of the history are too well known to need any 
rehearsal here. By divers steps Hadassah, “ the myrtle,” 
becomes Esther, “the star.” The young Jewess comes 
to the throne, and Mordecai sits in the king’s gate. Soon 
after the royal feast, in which Xerxes made public ac- 
knowledgment of his new queen, Haman, the son of 
Hammedatha the Agagite, appears upon the scene. He 
speedily becomes the royal favorite. The king promoted 
him, “ and advanced him, and set his seat above all the 
princes that were with him.” In his rise to power, and 
the consequent collisions of his interests with those of 
his rival, the Jew in the king’s gate, we find our first 
lesson from the contrasted lives of Haman and Mor- 
decai : — 

I . — The Evils of Discontent. 

Haman’s rapid advancement to a place of imperial 
power would be an incredible story in any other than an 


210 


Companion Characters. 


oriental despotism. But history, both sacred and pro- 
fane, is full of illustrations of the facility with which 
royal favorites have acquired and exercised a more than 
royal power. And no feature of these illustrations is 
more noticeable than the wonderful rapidity that often 
characterizes the promotion of the poor and weak and 
unknown, to positions of power and influence and fame, 
the mere hope of which, at one time, would have seemed 
the wildest dream. The story of Joseph will occur to 
every one as an illustration of these remarks. He who 
but yesterday was lying in an apparently hopeless dun- 
geon, is to-day on the steps of the throne ; and his word 
is the law of the king as well as of the mighty kingdom. 
Egypt has a king indeed ; but Joseph sways the sceptre 
of a sovereign power. Daniel, also, in the court of 
Babylon, furnishes another instance of the rapid ad- 
vancement to the place of supreme authority, of one 
who but recently was altogether unknown and unbe- 
friended. 

Haman’s speedy promotion to the place of prime min- 
ister in the Persian Empire is not, therefore, an improb- 
able occurrence. That he should have conferred upon 
him almost dictatorial powers, through the blind par- 
tiality of the capricious Xerxes, is just what we should 
have expected from what we know of ancient and ori- 
ental despotisms, and expecially from what we know of 
the character of this monarch himself. So the son of 
Hammedatha became the greatest man in the Persian 
Court. The king himself was greater only in the sem- 
blance of a royal authority. Haman was the power be- 
hind the throne. “And all the king’s servants that 


Haman and Mordecai. 


2ii 

were in the king’s gate, bowed and reverenced Haman : 
for so the king had commanded concerning him.” With 
a lordly step he strode through the corridors of the royal 
palace. With proud and haughty self-gratulations he 
gathered his family around him and recounted before 
them the marvellous elements of his greatness. He 
“ told them of the glory of his riches, and the multitude 
of his children, and all the things wherein the king had 
promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the 
princes and servants of the king.” And the climax of 
his greatness was in the fact that he stood first also, as 
he supposed, in the eyes of Esther, the queen. It was 
the last drop in the cup of his happiness, that he, alone 
of all the nobles and princes of the empire, had been in- 
vited to banquet with the king and queen. So great 
was Haman. Riches, a multitude of children, the royal 
favor, and a seat at the king’s right hand on the highest 
step of the throne, with even the royal signet ring com- 
mitted to his keeping ; — with all these elements of great- 
ness, it would seem as if he could not be greater were 
he on the throne. And it would seem as if not one ele- 
ment of happiness could be wanting in such a life. 

But Haman was not happy. No man, indeed, in the 
court of Xerxes was more unhappy than he. The 
trouble in his mind arose, not as we might have sup- 
posed it would arise, from the insecurity of his position, 
nor from his obvious exposure to the shafts of malice 
and envy. Haman cared for none of these things. Per- 
haps he was blinded to their existence and power. The 
great source of disquietude to the royal favorite was that 
Mordecai, the Jew, would not do him homage. All men 


212 


Companion Characters. 


in the court of Xerxes, however great they were, ac- 
knowledged the power of the royal favorite, except his 
rival. With obsequious obeisance they prostrated them- 
selves before him ; “ but Mordecai bowed not, nor did 
him reverence.” Why Mordecai, otherwise loyal to the 
king, should in this particular instance have refused obe- 
dience to the royal mandate, does not clearly appear. 
The national and traditional hatred of the Amalekite by 
the Jew may have had something to do with it. But it 
is more probable that Mordecai was restrained, by con- 
scientious convictions, from giving that homage and rev- 
erence to a fellow-creature which contained elements of 
worship due to Jehovah, the true God alone. 

And so it came about, that, while all others in the 
court bowed in silence and dread in the august pres- 
ence of the prime minister, Mordecai sat erect in the 
king’s gate as self-possessed and lofty of soul as was 
even the son of Hammedatha. It was this that troubled 
Haman. Rehearsing all the elements of his fame and 
magnificence to his household, he is lifted up with 
the grandeur of the prospect. But there is one cloud 
on the horizon. The ointment is most costly ; and its 
fragrance is to his nostrils as the sweetest incense ; but 
there is one dead fly in the ointment. He turns from 
all his riches and pleasures and honors with the sorrow- 
ful confession of an unhappy and discontented spirit. 
Very suggestive are his words, — “Yet all this availeth 
me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting 
at the king’s gate.” This one bitter ingredient poisoned 
all his cup. 

What a picture is here furnished of the evils of dis- 


Haman and Mordecai. 


213 


contentment ! It is a spirit of dissatisfaction and unrest 
that disquiets not only him who cherishes it, but also all 
with whom he has anything to do. It has no necessary 
connection with what one has or has not. It is often 
found exerting its most baleful influences in the minds 
of those who are, like Haman, rich and increased with 
goods. They have everything that heart can wish, 
except the one thing. With grasping spirit they have 
reached forth and se.cured almost (but not) all their 
hearts’ desire. But one thing more would make them 
supremely happy. So they think; and because that 
one thing is beyond their power, all they do possess has 
no element of happiness to their complaining spirits. 
The one thing wanting overbalances all they have, and 
wanting it they want everything. 

It is to be observed further, also, that discontent has 
a most intimate connection with others and what they 
possess. In houses and lands, in flowers and fruits, in 
pleasures and honors from my fellow-men, I have all 
that I could desire or hope for ; and I am supremely 
content. But let my neighbor gain, in any of these or 
other things, something which I have not, and imme- 
diately my soul is afflicted with this baleful spirit of dis- 
content. I have as much as I had before ; but because 
my friend has more, I seem to have nothing. What be- 
fore satisfied me has no such power now : and from the 
survey of all my possessions I turn with the words of 
murmuring, — All this availeth me nothing, so long as I 
see my neighbor in possession of that which I have not. 

Still further, it belongs to this evil spirit of discon- 
tentment that its chief disquietude arises from the fact 


214 


Companion Characters. 


that it can not be supreme. I not only want what my 
neighbor has, but I want to get it away from him. Part 
of the pleasure that shall exorcise this evil spirit of dis- 
content is unquestionably the having what no one else 
can get ; but it is an additional part of that pleasure 
that my neighbor should be deprived of that which was 
distinctively his. I want it myself, and I want it myself 
alone : no one shall share it with me. The spirit of dis- 
content will brook no rivalry. It is like Haman in the 
court of Ahasuerus. There was room enough in that 
court for both Haman and Mordecai : but this was 
intolerable to the son of Hammedatha. He must 
be the sole object of the universal homage. And be- 
cause he can not secure his end, he is dissatisfied, and 
can find no enjoyment in all the tokens of the king’s 
favor. 

So is it ever with this spirit of discontent. A man 
ha£ nothing. He suffers from abject and hopeless pov- 
erty. He believes if he could but have the necessaries 
of life, he would be the happiest of men. These neces- 
saries are given him. Is he content? Not by any 
means! He wishes now for the conveniences of life. 
They will make him supremely content. They, too, are 
laid down upon his doorstep. But still he cries for 
more. What he has received but whets his appetite for 
something else. He now calls for the luxuries of life. 
Without them he must be forever miserable. Thus the 
spirit of discontent grows by what it feeds on. Give a 
man necessaries, and he wants conveniences ; give him 
conveniences, and he wants luxuries ; give him luxuries, 
and now he is more miserable than when he had nothing. 


Haman and Mordecai. 


215 

With all his getting, he has failed to secure the spirit of 
contentment : and so he must be unhappy. 

Another lesson from this oriental story may be of 
important practical benefit to all of us. We see here, 

II . — The Cruelties of a Selfish Ambition. 

It was Haman’s ambition to stand on the highest 
place in the Persian realm ; and he would stand there 
alone. A mere creature of the royal favor, he is jealous 
of any rivalry in the affections of the king. Mordecai 
the Jew seems to stand in the way of his ambitious pur- 
poses. And with remorseless cruelty he determines 
upon his removal. It is the method in which he pro- 
poses to get rid of his enemy that reveals the unsparing 
ferocity of his nature. “ He thought scorn to lay hands 
on Mordecai alone ; for they had showed him. the people 
of Mordecai : wherefore Haman sought to destroy all 
the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of 
Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai.” The malig- 
nant and revengeful spirit that feeds the flame of his 
ambition is not satisfied with crushing a solitary rival. 
He will signalize his possession of sovereign power by 
planting his heel in the blood of an entire race. 

But he must first gain the king’s consent, before he 
can thus wreak his cruel vengeance upon his rival’s 
people. The manner in which he gained the royal ap- 
proval of this diabolical purpose is in keeping with the 
whole dark tragedy ; and it is hardly more discreditable 
to the prime minister than it is to the sovereign himself. 
Slander and bribery are the two satanic means by which 
he expects to accomplish his infamous aims. The first 


21 6 


Companion Characters. 


step in the plot is to stain the fair name of the whole 
Hebrew people. “And Haman said unto King Ahasuerus, 
There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed 
among the people in all the -provinces of thy kingdom ; 
and their laws are diverse from all people, neither keep 
they the king’s laws, therefore it is not for the king’s 
profit to suffer them.” It was a gratuitous and vile 
calumny upon an innocent and defenceless people. 

But slander alone will not avail to accomplish the 
evil purposes of the ambitious Haman. And the royal 
favorite has other and more potent methods of reaching 
the ear and of gaining the consent of his master. Xerxes 
needed money. The prodigious extravagance of the 
Persian Court was fast exhausting the revenues of the 
empire. It is not improbable also that just now the 
Persian monarch was preparing for his great, and, as 
it turned out, disastrous expedition against Greece. 
Money therefore was an imperative necessity to the 
royal treasury. No one knew that fact better than 
Haman. The ambitious favorite had doubtless fore- 
seen the end of all the king’s foolish prodigality, and 
had prepared himself beforehand to strengthen his own 
power by showing himself able to gratify the royal de- 
mands. And now when Haman proposes to accomplish 
two things so important to the welfare of the kingdom 
as the destruction of a pestiferous people in the empire, 
and the replenishment of the royal treasury with an 
almost incredible sum of money, — just now so exceed- 
ingly necessary, — it was not in the heart of the thought- 
less and heartless king to say No, to the wishes of his 
favorite minister. 


Haman and Mordecai. 


217 


And so the decree is written. In a moment of gush- 
ing friendship for the man who had so long ministered 
to his passions, the king gave Haman his signet ring 
with which to sign and seal the infamous decree, while 
also in a spasm of prodigality he waived the offer of the 
treasure. We shall make a great mistake, however, if 
we suppose that Haman was not wise enough to see to 
it that that money did nevertheless actually go into the 
king’s treasure-house. But nevertheless it was not to 
the king’s advantage. That money was bad money. It 
was the price of blood. And money put against life 
carries with it evermore a curse, under the weight of 
which neither men nor nations can stand. They who 
barter souls for hire will find that hire like the coveted 
silver in the hands of the traitor. His chief concern, 
after a few brief hours, was to get rid of the price of 
blood ; and with a despairing cry he threw down the 
cursed silver upon the temple-floor and fled from its 
scorching, withering presence. That silver was heavy 
enough to sink the soul of Judas into the bottomless 
pit. And Haman’s ten thousand talents were a weight 
that finally sufficed to hurl him from his high place into 
the depths of obscurity and sorrow. Money against life 
must bring death. 

But, for the present, all goes well in the court of 
Xerxes. The annalist paints with a few strokes two 
pictures of vivid and startling power. Two lines are 
enough to open two windows upon scenes of stirring 
activity — “ The king and Haman sat down to drink ; but 
the city Shushan was perplexed.” 

What contrasted scenes ! The sovereign, true to his 


218 


Companion Characters. 


convivial nature, and his love of feasting and revelry, 
must apparently celebrate with a banquet of wine this 
latest proof of his favorite’s interest in his kingdom and 
welfare. And so the two infamous men, king and 
courtier, to relieve themselves of the cares of state, — 
having sent the royal messengers all through the em- 
pire with the bloody decree, — went into the banquet- 
ing-house to have a glorious debauch ! The king and 
Haman sat down to drink. 

But another and very different scene is to be witnessed 
outside the palace. The tidings of woe pass rapidly 
throughout the realms of the one hundred and twenty- 
seven provinces. And in the capital there is universal 
perplexity and distress. It may be that there were more 
Jewish people there than in other cities. They would 
naturally gather around their beloved queen. And we 
may well believe that all men of whatever nationality 
would be troubled by the publication of such a decree. 
There was no public explanation of the cause of this 
terrible blow. The people were possibly ignorant of the 
exact extent of the impending calamity. They may 
have felt, — and well might they have felt, — insecure 
themselves ; and lived in daily terror lest the blow now 
hanging over their Hebrew neighbors might soon de- 
scend upon their own heads also. They were sorely 
perplexed. They were the sport of a capricious despot. 
They knew not but that even now the royal caprice was 
singling them out for the same kind of slaughter. And 
besides this, no thoughtful man could look forward less 
than a twelvemonth, and contemplate with any com- 
posure the coming destruction of all neighborly and 


Haman and Mordecai. 


219 


commercial relations, when every man’s hand should be 
turned against his neighbor’s ; for all could not but see 
that the Jews would fight for their lives ; and the whole 
city and land would be deluged with blood. No wonder 
the city Shushan was perplexed ! 

But what did it signify to those two wicked men? 
The king was the weaker-minded of the two. His chief 
desire was to have a good time. Haman’s head was 
clearer ; and his plans, though diabolical, had so far been 
even more successful than he could have expected. He 
is therefore also prepared to have a good time. In the 
flowing bowl the drunken villains sitting on the high 
places of power drown the troubled noises that come up 
to them in the palace from a saddened and perplexed 
people. It was naught to the proud prime minister that 
the sword of the executioner might now leap up and 
strike down the queen from the side of her husband, as 
well as the rival in the king’s gate. 

But his vaulting ambition, in this respect, overleaped 
itself. It was the very extent of the blow that he had 
planned that brought the missile at last down upon his 
own head. Had he been content to have accomplished 
the ruin of Mordecai, he might easily have put him out 
of the way. The cruelties of a selfish ambition, in his 
case as in all others, defeated its own grasping and ma- 
lignant end, and brought upon itself the punishment 
which it so richly deserved. The ambition that seeks 
only the advancement of self, and which in gaining its 
object cruelly and remorselessly overrides the interests 
of every one else, is simply hurrying to its own over- 


220 


Companion Characters. 


throw. It plunges into the ruin which it merits, and 
hastens to commit the guiltiest suicide. 

But we must not overlook the fact that there is run- 
ning through this story of Esther a brighter and far 
more comforting lesson than those so far considered. 
We have here suggestively illustrated the subject of, 

III .—Providential Interventions in Human Affairs. 

It is a notable fact that the name of God is not found 
in the book of Esther. The fact has naturally enough 
given rise to many curious speculations touching the 
purpose of the writer in thus omitting all reference to 
the Divine Being, who presides over all history and who 
inspired his pen to put on record this narrative so strik- 
ingly illustrative of the ways and workings of Divine 
Providence. It is useless to follow these speculations. 
It is enough to say that this absence of the Divine name 
can be no objection to the inspiration of the book, see- 
ing no book of the sacred canon shows more plainly the 
hand of God. The holy name may not be written in 
the chronicle ; but everywhere between the lines appear 
the plainest tokens of its presence and its power. 

We see for one thing, Divine Providence here super- 
intending human affairs. The God of the book of Esther 
is not a God afar off, and indifferent to the course of 
events among men. He is near at hand, quick to hear 
and prompt to help and mighty to save His people. The 
chronicle reveals as in a glass the complicated network 
of evil passions, the scheming of wicked men, their plots 
and counter-plots, the grinding oppressions of the poor, 


Haman and Mordecai. 


221 


the revelries of the rich, the aggrandizement of the great, 
the prayers and tears and cries of the distressed. We 
recognize it as a section out of life. Men, nations, and 
events are here just as we see them in actual life. 

And yet just as plainly we see God here overruling all 
events, and causing them to issue according to His sov- 
ereign pleasure. His all-wise and supreme counsel is 
here displaying its power, defeating the schemes of the 
wicked, and bringing richest blessings upon the heads of 
the righteous. As Haman rises to power, and begins to 
disclose the cruelties of his ambition, the Providence of 
God brings Esther to the throne, to checkmate the dia- 
bolical schemes of the royal favorite. Mordecai’s faith 
rightly interpreted the reason of her advancement. He 
stirs the soul of his royal kinswoman to duty by the 
lofty prophecy, — “ Who knoweth whether thou art come 
to the kingdom for such a time as this?” God’s hand 
was in it all ; and His power still maintained supreme 
control over all the plans of men, and the course of 
events ; even though in name and manifest presence He 
seemed to be afar off. 

We see here also many illustrations of that timing of 
events , which is ever one of the most marked character- 
istics of the ways of Divine Providence. It was surely 
a more than human power that moved the wicked 
Haman to appoint a far distant day as the day of 
slaughter of the Jewish people. The whole matter had 
been put into his hand ; and he might have fixed upon 
an early period for the extermination of his enemies. 
And we should have supposed that he would want to 
get rid of them as soon as possible. But we see him 


222 


Companion Characters. 


fixing upon a time that would give abundant opportu- 
nity to thwart his nefarious designs. Only in the lapse 
of time could those counsels have been overthrown : 
and God led him to afford that time ; and so all his 
schemes came to naught. The same favorable timing 
of events may be seen in the day of Esther’s unbidden 
entrance into the royal presence. For thirty days she 
had not been sent for. She justly might have thought 
the time unpropitious for an uncommanded appearance 
before the capricious monarch. But it was Divinely 
ordered that she should come before the king just when 
he was inclined to be gracious, and when the golden 
sceptre should be held out to her. 

Yet again, we can not fail to see a superhuman power 
guiding the various threads of human affairs in the mat- 
ter of Mordecai’s reward. He had saved the king’s life ; 
but his fidelity seemed to go for long unnoticed and un- 
rewarded. What power was it that hindered the king’s 
sleep, on that particular night after Haman’s boasting 
before his family of his greatness, and after the construc- 
tion of the gallows on which he was about to ask the 
king to have Mordecai hanged? What power led the 
king to desire the book of the records of the chronicles 
of his kingdom to be brought and read before him? 
Who inclined the reader to turn to the story of Morde- 
cai’s faithful deliverance of the king from the machina- 
tions of his enemies? What power brought Haman just 
at this juncture into the court of the palace? It was an 
unseemly hour to visit the king. But Haman was so 
full of the thought of condign vengeance upon the ob- 
noxious Mordecai, that he was willing to test even the 


Haman and Mordecai. 


223 


strength of the king’s love for him by ventuiing, not 
only unbidden, but also at an unseasonable hour, to ap- 
proach his master. How plainly we see here wicked 
men led by their own interests, and under the sway of 
their own desires, and yet just as certainly led by a 
power higher and mightier than their own in a way in 
which, had they known all, they would never have chosen 
to go of their own will? 

Marvellous are the ways of Divine Providence! Like 
the pattern in the loom, a casual glance reveals only an 
inextricable confusion. Superhuman forces seem to 
mingle with human passions ; and there is no order or 
certainty in the issue, and no pleasure in the present 
outlook. Yet to a closer eye it is evident that an Infinite 
Power has in His hands all the threads of life ; and He 
will bring them not only to the result which He purposes, 
but also in just the time He chooses. When the com- 
plicated web of human affairs is finished, all plans of 
men and all events of life shall be found to fit with per- 
fect accuracy and a matchless beauty. 

Once more, the story of Esther brings before us many 
significant illustrations of the retributions of Divine Provi- 
dence. The blow fell upon Haman just when he was 
in the height of his power. It was his endeavor to reach 
up and gain a loftier place, that led to his completer 
downfall. He was like the wicked men of whom the 
Psalmist speaks when he says, — “ I was envious at the 
foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For 
there are no bands in their death ; but their strength is 
firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither 
are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride com- 


224 


Companion Characters. 


passeth them about as a chain ; violence covereth them 
as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness : they 
have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, 
and speak wickedly concerning oppression : they speak 
loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens ; and 
their tongue walketh through the earth. Therefore his 
people return hither ; and waters of a full cup are wrung 
out to them. And they say, How doth God know? 
and is there knowledge in the Most High?” And it was 
all a mystery to the Psalmist. He continues, — “ When 
I thought to know this, it was too painful for me, until 
I went into the sanctuary of God ; then understood I 
their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places : 
thou castedst them down into destruction. How are 
they brought into desolation as in a moment ! they are 
utterly consumed with terrors ! ” This was the end of 
Haman. 

The honors, which he felt sure were intended for him- 
self, were given to his rival : and he was himself made 
the instrument of exalting the hated Jew before all the 
people of the capital. His wife rightly interpreted this 
as an omen of his destruction. He was now on the 
downward slope; and he went swiftly to the bottom. 
The very blunders which he committed, in the agony of 
his desire to escape the impending doom through the 
mercy of the queen, now only hasten his overwhelming 
ruin. The very gallows which in the day of his pride 
and power he had prepared for Mordecai the Jew, now 
serve as the instrument of vengeance upon himself. 
“ His mischief returns upon his own head ; and his vio- 
lent dealing comes down upon his own pate.” The 


Haman and Mordecai. 


225 


king had loved him and showered upon him the highest 
honors ; but will now show him no mercy : “ because he 
remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor 
and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in 
heart.” The retributions of Divine Providence in this 
oriental history develop slowly; but when the blows 
begin to fall, they come fast and heavy, — to the utter 
destruction of the wicked. 

That same watchful Providence brings at last abun- 
dant reward to Jehovah’s faithful and believing servants. 
To Esther on the throne, and to Mordecai the Jew in 
the king’s gate, and to the people of Israel throughout 
all the vast empire, there comes at last a day of rejoicing. 
The Providence of God turns their adversity into pros- 
perity, and in wondrous and unexpected ways brings 
good out of all their evil. There was a day in the life 
of Jacob when he was constrained to cry out, — “All 
these things are against me.” But when Divine Prov- 
idence had gathered up the scattered and tangled threads 
of his life, he had abundant reason to reverse his judg- 
ment ; for his long and varied experience enabled him 
to see that all things had really been in his favor, — 
“ working tog^her for his good.” It was so with Mor- 
decai. At one time also in his life it seemed as if God 
had forsaken him ; and all evil powers were about to 
prevail against him. But even then the most untoward 
events, under the hand of a gracious God, were shaping 
themselves for his honor and happiness. 

And thus shall it ever be. “The Lord redeemeth the 
soul of his servants ; and none of them that trust in 
him shall be desolate.” 


XII. 


EZRA AND NEHEMIAH. 



HE work of pulling down is usually neither hard 


JL nor long; but that of building up is both. This 
trite truth finds a pertinent illustration in the overthrow 
and the re-establishment of the Hebrew State. After a 
long period of decay only did the work of demolition 
begin. But when once entered upon, it took the king 
of Babylon less than five years to break down the mon- 
archy in Jerusalem. After the predetermined seventy 
years the process of reconstruction began. And more than 
one hundred years were consumed in building again the 
Hebrew Commonwealth. It took a century to restore 
what a half decade had sufficed to destroy. 

This suggestive fact will clearly appear from a glance 
at this period of Israel’s history. The Captivity began B.c. 
605.* The appointed seventy years, therefore, expired 
B.C. 535 : and this was the date of the first decree, which 
was issued by Cyrus, for the rebuilding of the house of 

* The careful student will not need to be told that all these dates 
are only approximately correct. Great uncertainty still exists as to 
the exact chronology of this period. The text follows the judgment 
of the most approved interpreters : and the years mentioned are 
probably not far wrong. 


(226) 


Ezra and Nehemiah. 


227 


the Lord at Jerusalem. The second decree for rebuild- 
ing the temple, issued by Darius, was fifteen years later, 
viz., B.c. 520. This was the period of those four remark- 
able men, — Zerubbabel, Joshua, Haggai, and Zecha- 
riah, — who laid the foundations of the Restoration. 
From their day we must pass onward almost seventy- 
five years before we come to the times of Ezra and 
Nehemiah. Ezra went up to Jerusalem B.c. 457: and 
Nehemiah did not receive his commission from the king 
of Persia until thirteen years later, viz., B.C. 444. The 
work of these two men occupied more than twenty-five 
years ; so that fully one hundred years elapsed before 
the Jewish State was once more rehabilitated. 

A great work, then, had been done in Jerusalem be- 
fore Ezra and Nehemiah appear on the stage. It is 
especially noteworthy that the first concern of the exiles 
from Babylon, under the influence of their leaders and 
the prophets of the Restoration, was to rebuild the 
“ house of the Lord.” And this, notwithstanding many 
hindrances, they had actually accomplished. But in the 
course of half a century succeeding the completion of 
this work, many disorders had crept in ; and the na- 
tional as well as the religious life of the people was at 
a low ebb. The ways of Zion mourned : and an apathy, 
insensible alike to the claims of God and the love of 
country, had settled down upon the people. 

At this juncture Ezra and Nehemiah appear in the 
history. The former goes up to Jerusalem thirteen 
years before the latter ; and is armed with a commission 
from Artaxerxes relating for the most part to religious 
affairs. The work set before him Ezra vigorously under- 


228 


Companion Characters. 


took, and in it was measurably successful. But it soon 
became apparent that religion could not flourish without 
some change in the civil status. In the providence of 
God, Nehemiah is now commissioned from the king in 
matters chiefly civil and secular. His work was neces- 
sary in order that the work of his companion and prede- 
cessor might not altogether prove a failure. 

The two men were admirably fitted to accomplish 
their respective tasks. Ezra belonged to the priestly 
family, being a lineal descendant of Aaron. “-He was 
a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God 
of Israel had given.” He had also made special prep- 
aration for his life’s work in the line of his special apti- . 
tudes. The significant record is, “ Ezra had prepared 
his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and 
to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.” Nehemiah 
probably belonged to the tribe of Judah. He was as 
devoted to the service of Jehovah as the “ ready scribe.” 
His position in the court of Artaxerxes had to do with 
secular matters, and brought him into close contact with 
his sovereign. He was the king’s cup-bearer. When 
therefore he had won the favor of his master, and de- 
sired his help, he was commissioned to go up to Jerusa- 
lem to perform a royal rather than a priestly work. 
The tidings which came to him from the city and 
sepulchres of his fathers, had emphasized the defence- 
less condition of Jerusalem, — her wall being broken 
down and her gates being burnt with fire. To rebuild 
this wall, to set up those gates, and to re-establish civil 
order was the work for which Nehemiah was commis- 
sioned. 


Ezra and Nehemiah. 


229 


These are the two men chosen of God to finish the 
work of re-establishing the Hebrew nationality. God 
had prepared their way before them. We can hardly 
doubt that the benign influence of Esther and Mordecai, 
who flourished in the preceding reign, still lingered in 
the court of Persia, and inclined the son of Xerxes to 
show extraordinary favors to such worthy representa- 
tives of favored Israel. The God of Israel thus pre- 
pared the way of His servants, as before He had pre- 
pared them for the work which they were to accomplish. 
Ezra’s profound knowledge of the law of the Lord, — 
the earnest preparation of his heart that it might be- 
come imbued with its inner life and spirit, — the subjec- 
tion of his will and conscience to the requirements of 
that law, so that his life was an illuminating commentary 
on its holy precepts, — his strong desire to teach in Israel 
the statutes and judgments of Jehovah, — his aptitude 
in understanding that law, giving the sense, and caus- 
ing the people to understand the reading of it; — all 
this is manifest from the brief record. And all this 
came from the Lord, who was now opening the path 
for his feet. 

The same Divine Power had prepared Nehemiah for 
his life’s work. “ For pure and disinterested patriotism 
he stands unrivalled. The man whom the account of 
the misery and ruin of his native country, and the perils 
with which his countrymen were beset, prompted to 
leave his splendid banishment, and a post of wealth, 
power, and influence, in the first court in the world, that 
he might share and alleviate the sorrows of his native 
land, must have been pre-eminently a patriot. Every 


230 


Companion Characters. 


act of his during his government bespeaks one who had 
no selfishness in his nature. All he did was noble, 
generous, high-minded, courageous, and to the highest 
degree upright. But to stern integrity he added great 
humility and kindness, and a princely hospitality. As 
a statesman he combined forethought, prudence, and 
sagacity in counsel, with vigor, promptitude, and decis- 
ion in action. In dealing with the enemies of his coun- 
try he was wary, penetrating, and bold. In directing 
the internal economy of the State, he took a comprehen- 
sive view of the real welfare of the people, and adopt- 
ed the measures best calculated to promote it. In 
dealing whether with friend or foe, he was utterly free 
from favor or fear, conspicuous for the simplicity with 
which he aimed at doing what was right, without respect 
of persons. But in nothing was he more remarkable 
than for his piety, and the singleness of eye with which 
he walked before God. He seems to have undertaken 
everything in dependence upon God, with prayer for His 
blessing and guidance, and to have sought his reward 
only from God.” * 

But we need not at present characterize these eminent 
servants of God any further. Their distinguishing traits 
of character will become better known to us as -we pon- 
der the story of their work in finishing the rebuilding of 
Zion. They were 

The Model Builders. 

The just and pre-eminent right of Ezra and Nehemiah 
to this title will be evident from a brief study of the 


* Smith’s Bible Dictionary, sub voce, Nehemiah. 


Ezra and Nehemiah. 


231 


work which they accomplished, the methods, wise and 
efficient, in which they wrought, the great difficulties 
which they encountered, and the efficacious helps which 
they received. 

/. — Their Work. 

It was a vast and complicated business that lay before 
these last leaders of the Restoration. It is true the 
work had been wisely begun and faithfully prosecuted 
by their noble predecessors. But now that work had 
fallen into decay ; and, as is often the case, so here, it 
was more difficult to renew an old and crumbling edifice 
than to build anew upon an altogether different founda- 
tion. This was the work before Nehemiah and Ezra. 
It devolved upon them to see just what was needed in 
a period of obscure and complex difficulties, to reduce 
the confusion to order, and to work faithfully, steadily, 
and perseveringly to the one great end of restoring to 
its ancient glory and power the city of their fathers. 
And all this they did. Two features of that work stand 
forth with unusual prominence, and call for our atten- 
tive study. 

The first was the building of the wall. Nehemiah's 
first survey of ruined Jerusalem was equally picturesque 
and pathetic. In the night-time, and by moonlight it 
must have been, the noble governor, just arrived from 
the court of Artaxerxes, rode all over the ruined heaps 
and broken walls of the holy city. That night view of 
Jerusalem only confirmed the previous experience of 
his faithful co-worker. Ezra had sought to arrest the 
deteriorating process by the reform and purification of 
the social life of the people. To this end he had insist- 


232 Companion Characters. 

ed upon all who were so entangled putting away their 
strange wives, which they had taken from the people of 
the land. But it did not take many years to establish 
the fact that, so long as the returned exiles were allowed 
unrestricted intercourse with their heathen neighbors, 
it would be impossible to maintain the purity which all 
true friends of the Restoration desired. The building 
of the wall, therefore, was a prime necessity. There 
must be first created a center and home, and as well an 
exemplar, for the reviving life of the nation. “ The one 
step which could resuscitate the nation, preserve the 
Mosaic institutions, and lay the foundation of future 
independence, was the restoration of the city walls. 
Jerusalem being once more secure from the attacks of 
the marauding heathen, civil government would become 
possible; the spirit of the people, and their attachment 
to the ancient capital of the monarchy, would revive ; 
the priests and Levites would be encouraged to come 
into residence ; the tithes and first fruits and other stores 
would be safe, and Judah, if not actually independent, 
would preserve the essentials of national and religious 
life.” * 

In this first great necessity that confronted the build- 
ers of the Restoration, we have an early instance of that 
which finds more than one illustration in our modern 
life, — the civil status has much to do with the life and 
progress of religion. True religion can not be enforced 
by the civil power ; and it does not need such help to 
advancement. But, while Christianity is independent 


* Smith, ut supra . 


Ezra and Nehemiah. 


233 


of government, it can not be safely neglected by govern- 
ment. It is saying the least, and yet saying much, to 
claim the same right of protection, by the civil power, 
of our holy religion, and the conservation of its peculiar 
institutions, without which it can not exist, that is un- 
hesitatingly accorded to the business in which a man may 
engage, and to the property which his industry may ac- 
cumulate. It is on this ground that we may boldly 
demand of the civil power the conservation of our 
church property, the purity of the family, and the quiet 
of the Sabbath. For these are essential elements to the 
nourishing of the life, and to the forwarding of the 
growth of the true religion. They are the walls around 
Jerusalem, without which religion must certainly lan- 
guish and ultimately perish. 

The second feature of this work was their building for 
the future. It was a work of pre-eminent faith to run 
that wall around the ruins of Jerusalem. The exiles 
were few in number ; and but a small portion of them 
could be induced to settle down among the dust-heaps 
of the city. Indeed, the desolations of the capital 
could be only measurably covered over by the allotment 
of one in ten of the exiles to reside within the walls. 
But the future would change all this. The ancient 
capital would renew her ancient renown, and become 
again the diadem of beauty for the whole land. And 
it was to the honor of Nehemiah s faith that it could 
look beyond the present destruction to the coming 
days of abounding life and power. He built, therefore, 
upon a broad foundation. Far more extensive was his 
work than the most sanguine expectations could have 


234 


Companion Characters. 


believed necessary for the demands of his own time. 
He wrought for coming generations. 

Like his was the work of his companion. In matters 
less distinctively secular Ezra wrought also for the future. 
As truly as his co-laborer the “ ready scribe ” would do 
a thorough work. These noble men were laying the 
foundations of a new commonwealth. They were of 
one mind as to the elements necessary to the abiding of 
the structure which they were building. So, while Nehe- 
miah sought the re-establishment of civil order, Ezra em- 
phasized, in public teaching and private life, the supreme 
importance of devotion to God and rectitude among men. 
To this end he wrought. No outward walls nor material 
palaces would ever give stability to the new order of 
things, without something more. They were but the 
body. That body must be informed and animated by 
the living spirit, or it would speedily come to ruin. It 
was the work of Ezra, in a pre-eminent degree, to put 
into the external form, which the genius of Nehemiah had 
created, the living spirit of a holy life. And in this he 
was assisted by the governor and many of the leading 
exiles from Babylon, who wrought hand in hand with 
him. 

Thus these two men sought to accomplish the noble 
end for which they had been commissioned from the court 
of Persia, and far more from the court of Heaven. For 
five hundred years their work remained : and it was no 
fault of theirs that, in the lapse of the centuries, the 
living spirit at last forsook the noble form that had 
been fashioned by their tireless hands. Their work was 
on a grand scale, and for a future age. And they 


Ezra and Nehemiah. 


235 

built the new State with every element of strength and 
beauty. 

This will appear more clearly, as we consider, 

II . — Their Methods . 

The manner in which Ezra and Nehemiah sought to 
fulfil their mission was as notable as the end they finally 
attained. Their plans were commensurate with their 
work. The wise, far-sighted, and systematic arrangements 
which they made for building up the new commonwealth, 
disclose their own ideal of the structure which they 
sought to rear, and stand as prophecies and promises of 
the grand consummation. This is manifest, whether we 
consider the plans of Nehemiah or the methods of his 
companion and fellow-laborer. 

I. In the great work of rebuilding the wall of Jerusa- 
lem it is not difficult to trace the master hand of the gov- 
ernor in a number of suggestive particulars. First, it 
was his plan that it should be emphatically a work of the 
people. His own immediate followers shared his moon- 
lit view of the ruins of the Holy City. Then before 
the priests, nobles, and rulers he portrayed the distress 
of the ancient capital, and so encouraged them with his 
story of the king’s favor, that with one mind they said, 
“ Let us rise up and build.” “ So they strengthened 
their hands for this good work.” And all united in 
building up the wall. The priests and Levites, — hereditary 
leaders of the people in all that pertained to the welfare 
of the chosen race, — led off in the work. Even Eliashib, 
the half-hearted high-priest, entangled as he was in an 
unholy alliance with the enemies of Nehemiah, could not 


236 Companion Characters. 

stand against the unanimity and enthusiasm of the 
builders on the wall. But the leaders were not left to 
do the entire work. Every man and every household 
had a part in the good cause. And even the women 
could not be debarred from doing something in this that 
seemed more distinctively man’s work. The daughters of 
Shallum (Neh. iii. 12) are mentioned among the builders 
of the wall, doubtless only as representatives of many 
. other noble women who shared in the great undertaking. 
And all such have an honorable place in history as most 
efficient friends of truth and righteousness, from the 
women who wrought for the furnishing of the tabernacle 
b to those who labored with Paul for the furtherance of 
the Gospel. 

Secondly, it was a part of Nehemiah’s plan that they 
should build “every one over against his house.” Two 
valuable ends were thus attained, — the comfort of the 
builders and the thoroughness of the work. As even 
that horse works best that works with the least chafing 
of the harness, so the builders of the wall wrought most 
efficiently because their work was near by, and no ex- 
penditure of force was necessary to bring them in con- 
tact with it. Each one also was stimulated to the 
utmost, both in the character and measure of his labor. 
No one of the builders could endure that his part of the 
wall should be less advanced than his neighbor’s, or in- 
ferior in the character of its workmanship to that with 
which it was connected. The master-workman thus se- 
cured from all his subordinates the best possible results 
whether in character or amount. 

Thirdly, it was also in the governor’s plan that every 


Ezra and Nehemiah. 


237 


man’s work should join on to that of his neighbor. It 
was thus deeply impressed upon the workmen that their 
labor was relative as well as personal. They were build- 
ing a wall, not a collection of unconnected towers. 
The need of co-operation, mutual concession and con- 
stant consultation, and friendly regard for what others 
were doing, would therefore become more and more evi- 
dent. Under this wise plan of Nehemiah, therefore, 
much more was done than the erection of a wall. While 
they were building themselves in from all untoward in- 
fluences from without, they were also strengthening 
the bonds of fraternal and neighborly feeling, and thus 
creating a compact and living organization within the 
henceforth impregnable capital. 

Fourthly, it belonged to the governor’s plan that every 
man should work with fitting instruments. Knowing the 
dangers by which they were beset it was Nehemiah’s 
care that the builders should be warriors too, as ready 
to swing the battle-axe as the stone-mason’s hammer, — 
prepared to draw the sword as quickly as the trowel. 
So they wrought in the toilsome but glorious work, girt 
alike with the weapons of war and the tools of peace, 
“ from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared.” 

2. Turning now to the more spiritual work, which was 
accomplished largely under the influence of Ezra, we shall 
find equal occasion to admire the wisdom of the methods 
adopted by these model builders. It was their unfailing 
care to seek to deepen the religious life of the people. 
This appears in the very beginning of their labors in 
the efforts which Ezra put forth to secure the purity of 
the social order, and which were wrought out before Ne- 


238 


Companion Characters. 


hemiah had received his commission from the king to 
rebuild the wall. See Ezra, chapters 9 and 10. The 
same important end was sought after, in the rebuke 
which Nehemiah administered to the rich among the 
exiles, because of their oppression of the poor. See 
Nehemiah, chapter 5. True religion, in the days of the 
Restoration, as in all time, was to “ do justly, and love 
mercy,” as well as to “ walk humbly with God.” The 
governor therefore opened the way for great spiritual 
mercies to the new commonwealth, by taking up the 
stumbling-blocks, and so preparing the way of the Lord. 

This crowning blessing came at last in the great re- 
vival, which occurred in Jerusalem in connection with 
the observance of the feast of Tabernacles. See Nehe- 
miah, chapters 8, 9, and 10. The wall was now finished ; 
and the Jews were safe alike from the attacks and seduc- 
tions of their enemies. The worship of the temple was 
now re-established in something like its pristine order. 
The season of comparative leisure in the circuit of the 
year had now arrived. The Divinely appointed period 
for the reading of the law had now come ; which, ac- 
cording to the Mosaic institutes, was to be done every 
year at the feast of tabernacles. It was a great occasion. 
The leaders embraced the opportunity afforded by a wise 
Providence, in the use of the regular services of the 
ceremonial system, which yet, because but now rein- 
stated, were unusually thronged, to bring the law of God 
to bear upon the consciences of the people. 

For more than three weeks there was such an assem- 
bly in the Holy City as even Jerusalem had seldom wit- 
nessed. In point of numbers that throng had doubtless 


Ezra and Nehemiah. 


239 


often been surpassed ; but for spiritual power it may be 
doubted whether it was ever exceeded save by Pentecost. 
On the first day of the seventh month Ezra began to 
read the law. The tenth day of this seventh month was 
the day of atonement ; and on the fourteenth began the 
feast of Tabernacles, which the returned exiles, with 
a more scrupulous regard to the ritual, kept as indeed a 
feast of booths. On the twenty-fourth day of this same 
month we find the multitude still waiting upon the God 
of their fathers. 

The usual threefold result of such seasons of spiritual 
quickening followed. There was great mourning over 
sin, and humble confession of it before God. There 
was great joy and gladness in the Divine service ; and 
the “joy of the Lord was the strength” of His people. 
And last of all, there was the solemn dedication of the 
people to God. “ The children of Israel were assembled 
with fasting, and with sack-clothes and earth upon them. 
And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all 
strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the in- 
iquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their 
place, and read in the book of the law of the Lord their 
God one fourth part of the day ; and another fourth 
part they confessed, and worshiped the Lord their God.” 
It was a great day of spiritual visitation in Israel. It 
set the seal and crown of Divine favor upon the methods 
of the Model Builders for deepening the foundations and 
rearing the abiding walls of the new Commonwealth. 

Bu£ the noble end was not easily attained, as we shall 
readily believe when we consider, 


240 


Companion Characters. 


III. — Their Difficulties. 

Every work of value must be tested. In physical 
things this is done when the work is finished, — as when 
the steamer is sent out upon a trial trip, or the railroad 
bridge is put to the utmost strain before it is opened for 
travel. But in the spiritual realm this work of testing 
goes on pari passu with the work itself. Thus Christian 
character is at once built up and confirmed. It was just 
so with the work of the Model Builders. It was tried 
and tested by the difficulties which it encountered. 
These difficulties were of two kinds. 

I. Those arising from internal weakness. The number 
of the exiles, at the utmost, was comparatively small. 
It is a notable fact that less than fifty thousand of the 
children of Israel returned from the captivity ; while the 
nation that went up out of bondage numbered not less 
than three millions. Compared, then, with the work be- 
fore them, the returned exiles were but “ a feeble folk.” 
They seemed to be altogether inadequate to the accom- 
plishment of their mission. But they were weaker yet 
in the apathy which marked the conduct of some who 
ought to have stood in the front rank. The nobles of 
Tekoa “ put not their necks to the work of the Lord.” 
It was not the first time the men of power and station 
had proved unreliable. Jeremiah himself had met with 
disappointment in the same direction. He says, “ I will 
get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them : 
for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judg- 
ment of their God : but these have altogether broken 
the yoke, and burst the bonds.” As in these Gospel 


Ezra and Nehemiah. 


241 


times, so in the days of the Restoration, “ Not many 
wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many 
noble, were called.” God does His work with feeble in- 
struments. But they were far weaker by reason of the 
moral obliquity of many, and among them some who 
should have been the leaders of the people in upright- 
ness of life and purity of heart. The case of Eliashib, 
the high-priest, is probably only one of many illustra- 
tions. He, and they like him, had almost unconsciously 
drifted to a low plane of pure living, because of their 
forbiddea alliances with their heathen neighbors. These 
ungodly connections, indeed, were not only the result, 
but also the origin of this low spiritual living. 

2. There were difficulties in their way also, arising from 
external opposition. The enemy outside was untiring in 
his efforts to thwart the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Three 
methods of attack were resorted to, that seem but 
pictures of the ever-present opposition to the work of 
the Lord. The first was ridicule. In the beginning of 
the work of wall-building this method of obstructing it 
was adopted. They said, “ Even that which they build, 
if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone 
wall.” This is pre-eminently the opposition which weak 
things must expect to encounter. The young Christian 
especially will have to confront this form of opposition. 
And it is a powerful weapon too ; before which the 
strong often go down. 

This method of assault failing the enemies of Nehe- 
miah and his companions, they now try the efficacy of 
intrigue. They can not stop the work of building, which 
still goes rapidly forward. So now they would help it 


242 


Companion Characters. 


along ! They would share in the good work ! There- 
fore they invite a conference, that they may establish a 
basis for mutual help in carrying on that work. How 
like the tactics of the great adversary of the Lord’s 
cause ! As soon as Satan sees he can not hinder a good 
work, he professes a great desire to assist in advancing 
it, purposing all the time to destroy it. The Model 
Builders were wise enough to know that all parleying 
with the enemy was dangerous ; and Nahemiah would 
none of it. He says, “ I am doing a great work, so that 
I can not come down : why should the work cease, whilst 
I leave it, and come down to you ? ” This method of 
intrigue, therefore, as their former efforts of the same 
kind in the court of Persia, met with signal failure. 

Once more, they try the efficacy of another line of 
assault, — that is, the corruption of the chosen people. 
This they do, partly in the absence of the noble men 
who finish the re-establishment of Jerusalem, by giving 
strangers a place even in the sacred precincts of the 
temple. Afterward, even in the presence, and under 
the administration, of Nehemiah they would break 
down the sanctity of the Sabbath ; and so cause the 
wrath of the Lord to come upon the congregation of 
Israel. This had well-nigh succeeded but for the untir- 
ing vigilance of the faithful governor. And this is ever 
the last, and always most subtle, and successful, method 
of hindering the rebuilding of Jerusalem. A pure and 
holy Church is invincible against any and all opposition. 
It is only when she becomes corrupt that she becomes 
also weak, for then the Lord in anger forsakes Jerusalem, 
and withdraws those gracious spiritual influences with 


Ezra and Nehemiah. 


243 


which He evermore is wont to sustain His people. These 
influences were given in abundant measure to the 
builders of the Restoration. Of this we shall be con- 
vinced when we have considered, 

IV.— Their Helps. 

In the face of all opposition, and notwithstanding 
many trials, the great work of re-establishing the Hebrew 
State went slowly but surely forward. Like the onflow- 
ing of a mighty river, obstacles retarded, but they could 
not arrest the movement. The opposing shores were 
strong enough to create some feeble eddies, indeed, and 
to set in motion some short and transient counter-cur- 
rents ; but the great central flood moved on without a 
pause and with an irresistible power. There is a three- 
fold explanation of this fact. 

1. Their efficient leadership had much to do with it. 
Our study of the life and times of Ezra and Nehemiah 
has been to little purpose, if it has not convinced us that 
these were chosen men, pre-eminently qualified to achieve 
the success which crowned their life’s work. Wise be- 
yond their generation, they were just the men to finish 
the superstructure of a revived national life, with indis- 
soluble bands joining on their work to that of their 
illustrious predecessors. Men of faithful spirit, they 
steadily held the awakening conscience of the new 
nation to the requirements of God’s holy law, and so 
built with the most indestructible materials in restoring 
Zion. They were men of the firmest convictions, and 
nothing could swerve them a hair’s breadth from the path 
of right ; but they were also eminently conciliatory in 
disposition and indissolubly bound together in the spirit 


244 


Companion Characters. 


of unity. They were peculiarly well fitted to work 
together ; and while the one restored the civil order and 
governed in secular affairs, the other led in spiritual 
matters and taught the people, with loving faithfulness, 
the knowledge of the Lord. 

But leaders, of the largest mould, can not do every- 
thing. 

2. The people also were enthusiastic in their determina- 
tion to rebuild their ancient glory. The rapid progress of 
the wall-building and the marvellously quick accomplish- 
ment of that part of the great undertaking are explained 
by the significant words of Nehemiah, “ So built we the 
wall ; . . . . for the people had a mind to work.” With 
confidence in those who went before them, and encour- 
aged by the hope of success, the great body of the peo- 
ple were both of one mind, and full of enthusiasm. 
Before such a state of things, the opposition which met 
them from without, and the indifference of a few con- 
fronting them from within, were of no avail in prevent- 
ing the accomplishment of the work. And thus it shall 
ever be. No hindrances can ever be effectual against 
the spirit of unity and enthusiasm, wisely led, and in the 
advancement of a noble cause. 

But the builders of the Restoration had other help, 
mightier far than these, the origin and inspiration of all 
others. 

3. They were under the constraining influences of the 
Holy Spirit. The return of the exiles from Babylon was 
a great national movement, under a Divine impulse such 
as nations rarely receive. The briefest comparison of 
the Exodus and the Restoration must start some sug- 


Ezra and Nehemiai-i. 


245 


gestive thoughts. When Israel came up out of Egypt, 
it was in the midst of marvellous displays of Divine 
power. In the presence of Jehovah’s outstretched arm 
and manifested power, we can not wonder that the heart 
of the whole people went with the God of their fathers, 
now revealing Himself as never before in the progress of 
the ages. The mystery is that they did not follow Je- 
hovah with a more perfect devotion, with an abandon of 
consecration as unusual as were the exhibitions of a super- 
human power, and the evidences of a Divine Presence. 

But in the return from the captivity there were no 
such indications of the presence and might of Jehovah. 
Miracles there were none, whether of judgment on Is- 
rael’s enemies, or of protection and mercy to the favored 
people. And yet the exiles went up from Babylon as 
truly guided and protected by a heavenly power, as the 
nation of slaves from the bondage in Egypt. It is the 
glory of God to conceal a thing. He can work with 
mighty power among the multitude without revealing 
the methods of His grace. The omnipotent Spirit it 
was, we must believe, that put it into the hearts of the 
rulers to be favorable to the chosen and afflicted people. 
It was He who inclined the captives to surrender the 
homes of their building in the land of the stranger, that 
they might go up to the city and sepulchres of their 
fathers, and build up there new homes within the long- 
forsaken but ever-loved Jerusalem. The Spirit of the 
Lord rested on the exiles. 

And that Spirit just as plainly presided over the whole 
work of restoring the desolations of Zion. He gave the 
captives their noble leaders, running through an illus- 


246 


Companion Characters. 


trious century illuminated by their great characters and 
grand achievements. He inspired them with that spirit 
of harmony and co-working so essential in the day of 
their weakness, and through which they were able to ac- 
complish such a gigantic undertaking. And it was the 
Divine Spirit who made His power and grace so signally 
manifest in the great awakening of the people at the 
memorable feast of tabernacles. It was His wise and 
holy providence that brought the multitudes together. 
His convicting power carried the truth, as read from the 
law of God by Ezra and his companions, home to their 
consciences. It was His constraining power that humbled 
them before their God because of their manifold and 
long-continued sins. And it was His gracious influences 
that guided their hearts to purpose, and their lives to 
render, a consecrated service to the God who redeemed 
them from the land and trials of the captivity, and gave 
them once more a place among the nations. 

Thus with Divine and human forces were the Model 
Builders helped in the accomplishment of their life’s 
work. Thus wisely were they guided and assisted in 
their methods of labor in renewing the glories of Jeru- 
salem. Thus also before their unwavering faith and 
changeless fidelity all difficulties vanished : and to them 
it was given to see once more renewed the vision of the 
Psalmist, “ Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole 
earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of 
the great King.” Once more they could say, as David 
said, “ God is known in her palaces for a refuge.” 

With this holy end attained at last, the mission of the 
Builders of the Restoration was ended. 


XIII. 

PETER AND JOHN. 

P ETER and John stand next to Paul, in the relative 
importance of their position and influence in the 
New Testament Church. They were the most noted, 
and perhaps most gifted of the Twelve. Their inter- 
course with their Master was of the most frequent and 
familiar character. Before their call to be disciples, they 
were acquainted with each other, and were associates in 
the same occupation. They were both fishermen of 
Galilee, with their homes on the lake-shore. 

They were together in most of the solemn and critical 
periods, not only of their own earlier spiritual history, 
but also of the Lord’s ministry. Together they wit- 
nessed His miracles and heard His instructions. To- 
gether they were eye-witnesses of His majesty in the 
holy mount. Together, weary and sorrowful, they were 
with Him in Gethsemane. Together, and alone of the 
Twelve, they stood with Him in the high-priest’s house. 
Together they ran to the sepulchre to confirm the tid- 
ings of their Redeemer’s resurrection. Together they 
entered the Temple, healing the believing cripple at the 
Beautiful Gate. Together they stood before the Coun- 

(247) 


24B 


Companion Characters. 


cil, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for 
Him, who had suffered and died for them. 

So intimate were these two disciples. And yet they 
were very unlike. The characteristics of Peter’s nature 
are well known. It is not necessary to dwell upon them 
here. It is enough to say that they were largely due to 
an impulsive temperament, and a perfect honesty of ex- 
pression. John’s character is far more generally mis- 
understood. In Da Vinci’s great painting of the Last 
Supper, he is represented as apparently the youngest of 
the Apostles. This may have been true. The artist 
has also given him a softness and delicacy of expression 
that is far more womanly than manly. This indeed is 
the common conception of the “ beloved disciple.” In 
the judgment of many, the feminine element predom- 
inates in the character of John the Evangelist. That 
this is a mistaken judgment, a more careful examination 
of the various incidents of his life would make abun- 
dantly apparent. We can not enter upon such an exami- 
nation here, however, as another theme claims our atten- 
tion. It must suffice to say that the ancient conception 
of John seems much more accurate. The primitive 
Fathers speak of him under the symbol of the eagle, 
which, with unfaltering pinion and unclouded eye, soars 
majestically to the sun. Strength as well as beauty 
marks John’s character. 

Without entering into any fatiguing and barren detail 
of the incidents in which Peter and John appear together 
in the history, let us give attention to some general prin- 
ciples which are especially emphasized by the contrast of 
their lives and characters. We have here an illustration of 


Peter and John. 


249 


A — The varying rapidity of Development in the Christian Life. 

Though bound together in the mysterious affinities of 
true friendship, the religious life of these two disciples 
developed in an unequal pace. Peter is so impulsive 
and contradictory, and his life is so full of haltings and 
drawbacks, that we are under a constant temptation to 
discount his knowledge of Divine truth and his experi- 
ence of Gospel grace. But we ought not to forget that, 
even during our Lord’s earthly ministry, Peter stands in 
the front rank of the Apostolic company, in the clear- 
ness of his conception of our Saviour’s character and 
mission. In a time of general uncertainty and question- 
ing as to our Lord, it is Peter who first starts up with 
his noble and ringing confession, — “ Thou art the Christ, 
the Son of the living God.” In a time of searching and 
unpalatable preaching, and of widespread defection from 
the Saviour’s standard, it is Peter who answers the 
Lord’s inquiry, “ Will ye also go away ? ” with the pas- 
sionate and loving asseveration, “ Lord, to whom shall 
we go ? Thou hast the words of eternal life ! ” 

In like manner, after the Lord’s earthly sojourn was 
ended, it was Peter who is God’s mouth-piece to the 
multitude at Pentecost. Accompanying his preaching 
the Holy Ghost descends with quickening and saving 
power upon the waiting people. It is Peter, also, who 
receives the Lord’s commission to open the doors of the 
Christian Church to the Gentile world ; and this com- 
mission he fulfilled in the ministrations of the Centu- 
rion’s house. We do not believe in the Primacy of 
Peter. Neither are we compelled to accept this dogma 
of the Papacy, in order to account for the fact that, in 


250 


Companion Characters. 


knowledge and experience of Divine things, Peter’s 
character and life exhibit a more rapid development 
than is to be seen among his brethren. 

Nothing, indeed, is plainer to the student of Apostolic 
history, than that Peter, Paul, and John come forward, 
in succession, as the great leaders of the infant Church. 
And they appear in this order. In the opening chap- 
ters of the Acts, for example, Peter is the prominent 
figure. Then he sinks out of view ; and Paul takes his 
place as the central figure in the chronicle. Except for 
the first third of the way, Luke’s history is substantially 
a record of the travels and labors of the Apostle Paul. 
Last of all, — after Peter and Paul are gone to heaven, — 
John stands up the last of the Apostolic company, to 
defend the Church against new enemies, — to guide her 
through new perplexities, — and to leave the completed 
canon of Holy Scripture, a precious legacy to the peo- 
ple of God in every age. 

So far as Peter and John are concerned, we can see 
an eminent fitness in this arrangement. It answered 
the varying maturity of their powers. Quicker in move- 
ment, in their earlier years, Peter made the most rapid 
advancement. His temperament, and temptations, and 
falls were themselves powerful elements of progress,^ 
under the careful guidance of Him who suffered no temp- 
tation to utterly overwhelm Him, and no fall to totally 
destroy Him. But John, moving more slowly than 
Peter, matures at last more profoundly and grandly than 
his fellow-disciple. We have an instinctive feeling, that, 
for writing the Fourth Gospel and the Apocalypse, a 
pen of peculiar power and of special training was need 


Peter and John. 


251 


ed. That pen was found in the hand of the “ disciple 
whom Jesus loved.” 

Similar differences in the development of Christian 
life and character is manifest in the church of every age. 
We see it in our day and among us. Under the same 
ministry, and, so far as we can observe, under substan- 
tially the same spiritual influences in every other respect, 
we see believers growing toward the same perfect stand- 
ard, indeed, but with widely varying degrees of progress. 
In many cases it may be impossible to account for the 
difference. In some instances, we see how all heavenly 
and human agencies conspire together to carry the soul 
rapidly forward ; and, on the other hand, how sinful and 
even Satanic influences combine to hinder the process 
of gracious development. But whether explicable to hu- 
man wisdom or not, the fact of such differences we are 
constrained to recognize. 

The germ of heavenly grace must be planted in the 
heart. In this one particular all true disciples must be 
alike. We are also justly expected to water it, and to 
cultivate it with unfailing care. But no one has war- 
ranted us to look for its budding and unfolding at cer- 
tain specified times, and with certain unvarying phenom- 
ena. Such a course of things, in nature, would reduce 
the boundless variety of spring-time to a cast-iron rigid- 
ness and sameness that would be intolerable. In neither 
case does the great Author of life repeat Himself. The 
development, in both the natural and spiritual worlds, 
is in the direction of certain great typal characteristics : 
but, in the details, there is an endless variety— a pro- 
fusion that is boundless. 


2$2 


Companion Characters. 


We need to bear this fact in mind constantly, and 
especially in our relations to young Christians. If we 
do not, we shall be in danger of committing a mis- 
take in one or other of two opposite directions. We 
shall stimulate into an unnatural forwardness some of 
the plants of grace whose growth ought to be retarded ; 
or we shall neglect, if indeed we do not uproot, others 
of a slower growth, — whose ultimate maturing is as- 
sured, but for whom the season needs to be prolonged. 
There are still some Peters who need the training which 
the Master gave to Simon — the training of repression 
and restraint. There still are Johns who demand a 
more patient waiting — the quiet shade, the calm, clear 
sunlight, and the fructifying shower — and they will yet 
develop into the noblest believers, possessed of a richer 
experience, and a profounder knowledge of the Lord, 
upon whose bosom they have learned to rest. 

Again, we have here an illustration of 

II. — The Force of Natural Temperament as an Element in any proper 
estimate of the Christian Character. 

We all take to Peter. He seems the most thoroughly 
human of all the Apostles. His religious experience 
is more like ours than any of his brethren. Especially 
do we find in it a counterpart of ours, in that duality of 
experience which the Apostle Paul so well describes in 
the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, and 
which so often perplexes us;— “those opposite phases 
of character that present themselves, according as effect 
is given to the promptings of the old nature or the 
new. ’ His spiritual insight, enlightenment, and fervor 


Peter and John. 


253 


must have been very great, when he called Christ the 
Son of the living God : but how great must have been 
his blindness, when, immediately after, he rebuked his 
Lord for talking of His approaching death ! Again, it 
was a daring faith that led him to attempt to walk on 
the water to go to Jesus: but how weak was his confi- 
dence in the face of the boisterous waves ! So, also, at 
the Last Supper his heart was glowing with the ardency 
of his love for the Lord, — for whom he was ready to 
suffer and to die ; but after the Supper, how stupid and 
sleepy, that he could not watch with his Lord even one 
short hour ! He was bold and valiant on the arrival of 
the traitor ; but how cowardly beneath the scrutiny of 
a maiden’s eye and the question of a servant ! There 
seem, indeed, to be two Peters in the sacred narrative. 
And herein we feel that he and we are on common 
ground. We are conscious of this double nature our- 
selves. If we are Christians, we find “a law in our 
members warring against the law of our mind.” It is, 
perhaps because the character of Peter displays this 
twofold feature more than the others do, that we are 
so much interested in it. 

If now we inquire why this dual nature is so apparent 
in Peter’s life, we shall come upon the ground of the 
principle just now under illustration. It was owing 
largely to his natural temperament. “His was a quick 
and rapid nature, his thoughts and emotions starting at 
once into full impetuous activity, like a deer startled 
from its hiding-place ; while the honesty and outspoken- 
ness of his nature constrained him to give expression to 
such thoughts and emotions just as they came. Conse- 


254 


Companion Characters. 


quently, in Peter you commonly have not that result of 
the composition of forces, natural and gracious, that 
you generally have in the actions of a believing man, — 
not the blending of the natural and the spiritual, — the 
combination of both in one modified result. You rather 
find each element coming out by itself/’* 

If Peter was right, therefore, he was right all over. 
If he was wrong, his was no half-hearted wrongness. 
He gave all his energies to his position, whether right 
or wrong. Governed too frequently by impulse, he was 
often led astray. Rash in utterance and hasty in ac- 
tion, his words and deeds often brought him to humili- 
ation, and called him through the deep waters of a peni- 
tence as true-hearted as had been his hasty conduct. 

For all this, we should make a great mistake in under- 
rating the reality and depth of Peter’s religious charac- 
ter. Appearances are often against him ; but through 
all he impresses us with the conviction that he truly 
loves, and would faithfully serve, his Lord. We reach 
this judgment, because all but unconsciously we make 
allowance for the force of his naturally impulsive spirit 
and headstrong temperament. We have no such feel- 
ing about John. If John should sin, as Peter does, we 
should feel that he had fallen beyond recovery. With 
something of Peter’s fiery zeal, justifying the title which 
the Lord gave to him and his brother, — Boanerges, — 
John possessed a far more evenly -balanced nature. 
Temptations that would overwhelm Peter, would 
scarcely touch John. 


Dr. W. G. Blaikie in The Sunday Magazine, May, 1869, p. 468, 


Peter and John. 


255 


Peter has many followers. They have his tempera- 
ment. They are people of a hasty spirit. They are 
constantly giving utterance to words of which they are 
ashamed, and doing deeds for which they receive a mor- 
tifying return in penitential grief. They are the prey 
of a thousand temptations. Their lives present to the 
superficial observer a curious conglomerate of the natu- 
ral and the spiritual, — of the old Adam and the new. 
But a more careful examination of such characters will 
reveal the existence of the principles of grace in strong 
and active exercise, — overborne sometimes by the natu- 
rally impulsive spirit, but rising ever above all opposi- 
tion and triumphing over every difficulty. Wisely, and 
perhaps at times even unconsciously, we judge the 
Peters, not indeed by a different standard, but in a dif- 
ferent spirit, from that which marks our measure of the 
Johns. We recognize their constant exposure to greater 
temptations. We feel that they need more grace to 
make anything like the same attainments in the Chris- 
tian life that are reached by their more evenly-tempered 
brethren. We expect to meet in their experience 
greater inequalities. If at times Peter does not rise 
higher than John, we look at other times to see him fall 
lower. But we believe that the grace of God, which 
avails for the one, will ultimately bring about the salva- 
tion of the other also. 

Yet again, in these contrasted lives of Peter and John, 
we have an illustration of the fact that, 


256 


Companion Characters. 


III. — Christian Laborers are adapted to different Fields of Christian 
Effort. 

A casual glance at these two Apostles, as we have 
seen, might leave the impression that they were not 
very unlike. Their occupations were the same. They 
had something of the same spirit, as appears in more 
than one incident of the Gospel history. Their firm 
and close personal friendship shows that they must 
have possessed some elements of character in common. 
But, as the history advances, and their respective char- 
acteristics are more clearly unfolded, we see that we 
have had but a surface view of these two natures. They 
are really very dissimilar ; and yet not in any such way 
as to hinder either their most intimate friendship or 
their most harmonious co-working. In the later periods 
especially, of the New Testament record, we see that 
Peter’s is an essentially bold and active and aggressive 
spirit, while John’s is of a quiet and contemplative cast, 
moulded for a life of retirement. 

And their fields of labor and influence, in the prim- 
itive church, answer to these differing characteristics. 
It is a noteworthy fact that John, who was apparently 
the most prominent of the Apostles at the time of 
Christ’s death, and who certainly was nearest and dear- 
est to his Lord, very soon after the scenes of Pentecost 
disappears from the history. For a quarter of a century 
he is hardly known in the chronicle of those stirring 
times. The reason is not difficult to discover. John’s 
nature did not fit him for mingling in the tumults and 
commotions consequent upon the preaching of the Gos- 


Peter and John. 


257 


pel and the spread of the rising religion. He was en- 
gaged in but few controversies with his unbelieving 
countrymen. He made no missionary journeys to other 
lands and peoples. These were the works of Peter and 
Paul. 

For this kind of work, — active and aggressive, — they 
were naturally adapted and specially endowed. John 
was not. His want of fitness for this department of 
Christian activity was not owing to any want of definite- 
ness of belief, or of decision in the expression of his 
opinion. In these respects he was not behind the very 
chiefest of the Apostles. The deficiency, if it may be 
called such, lay in his natural disposition. It was not 
of an active and demonstrative character. So, in the 
time of stirring events, John seems to retire to the rear. 
We are in danger, it is true, of inferring too much from 
the silences of the record. John may have led as active 
a life, and accomplished as much, in the way of aggres- 
sive and missionary work, as his brethren, — work of 
which the Holy Spirit, for some wise reason, has not 
thought fit to give us any information. This may be so. 
But, when we consider what John was in the Apostolic 
group during all our Lord’s earthly ministry, and for a 
brief period after His ascension, and then note how com- 
pletely his labors are passed over in the Apostolic his- 
tory, we can hardly resist the conviction that it was not 
very probable that John was engaged in any such work 
as occupied the time and energies of Peter and Paul. 
And yet he was doing his Master’s will. His quiet life, 
and contemplative nature, and devotional spirit were 
fitting him pre-eminently for writing the profoundest 


258 


Companion Characters. 


Gospel history, and for receiving and transmitting to 
the Church the latest revelation of her Redeemer’s will. 
No more important work was allotted to any of the 
Apostles ; and for it none was better qualified than 
John. 

In the facts and inferences above stated, there is a les- 
son for many in the modern church. We are under a 
constant temptation to forget the fact, that there are 
diversities of natural as well as spiritual gifts. We 
would make the brotherhood of disciples all Peters, or 
all Johns, according as we ourselves possess the charac- 
teristics of the one or the other. And we should make 
bad work of it, and spoil both. The grace of God in 
conversion does not change these natural faculties and 
constitutional traits. It modifies them perhaps ; but it 
does not subvert them. It does not make the retiring 
spirit bold and aggressive ; nor does it give to the stir- 
ring soul the contemplativeness of a recluse. 

You have therefore no right to censure your Christian 
friend because he does not work after your methods and 
in your fields, if he be doing the Lord’s work in a way 
more in accordance with his own Divinely given temper- 
ament and aptitudes. It may be your duty to mingle 
in the commotions of life ; while your quieter brother as 
truly serves your Lord and his, in a more congenial 
sphere — more congenial, that is, to him. It may be your 
place to join the army of Joshua, in fighting Amalek in 
the vale of Rephidim. Just as truly may it be his place 
to sit on the mountain summit, and there uphold the 
arms^ of the interceding Moses. He slings no battle-axe 
as you do ; and yet, as truly as you, has he a right to re- 


Peter and John. 


259 


joice in the discomfiture of the common enemy. The 
victory, in which both triumph, is gained as much by the 
praying company as by the fighting host. 

This, it will be observed, is a putting of the matter as 
in some sort a plea for John. It is designedly so; be- 
cause in our day of Peter-like activity and bustling zeal, 
the less stirring brother is in danger of being shoved 
aside. We would not have the Church of Christ wholly 
the one or the other. It will be a sorrowful day for her 
when she loses Peter’s aggressiveness. Nor will it be 
less a calamity when John’s profounder conception and 
more delicate and thorough appreciation of the Lord 
disappears from Zion. It is not necessary that the Pe- 
ters should become the Johns ; or the Johns the Peters ; 
or that both should lose their individuality, coalescing in 
something different from either. The most important 
thing is, that we each do faithfully and well the work of 
the field to which we are specially adapted, without cen- 
sure or uncharitable judgment of others who do the same. 
The “ Lord of the Harvest,” who sends forth the labor- 
ers, will make it His care that there is always at work 
a proper proportion of Peters and Johns. The Great 
Commander of the sacramental host will always see to it 
that there are enough soldiers like Peter to press on the 
column ; while at the same time He provides others, like 
John, who in quieter life and slower movement shall re- 
main to deepen the lines, and make sure the fruits of 
victory in a solid and lasting peace. 


XIV. 


MARTHA AND MARY. 

HE village of Bethany lies on the eastern slope of 



the Mount of Olives. To the traveller approach- 


ing it for the first time from Jerusalem, the view is dis- 
appointing. He climbs the western face of the Mount, 
and stands upon its summit, enraptured with the distant 
eastern prospect. Beyond the wilderness of Judea, 
which with frightful ruggedness seems to roll rapidly 
down to the Jordan, rise “ the mountains of Moab, with 
their seamed and shadowed sides, and the long level of 
their summits, while far down in the southeastern corner 
there is a glimmer from the waters of the Dead Sea.” 
But no Bethany greets his expectant eyes in the near 
view. He descends the mountain side for a little ways, 
to encounter a small ridge, which, as he believes, hides 
the village. He reaches the top of this ; and the whole 
eastern face of Olivet descends from his feet : and still 
there is no Bethany. 

A few paces further on, however, he comes upon it 
suddenly, nestling deep in a little basin of its own, yet 
not shut in, but lying so within the hollow as to look 
out upon the valley of the Jordan, with the everlasting 
hills of Moab beyond. Few travellers have so described 


(260) 


Martha and Mary. 


261 


it as to give an adequate conception of its profound se- 
clusion. Less than half an hour’s walk from the midst of 
the great and bustling city, its quietude could not have 
been greater had it been located in the bosom of the 
Quarantanian wilderness. No wonder our Lord, in the 
last troubled days of His life, so often passed from the 
turmoil and controversy and scoffing of the crowded 
city to the quiet and rest of this little village.* 

This was the town of Martha and Mary. It was in 
their house that the Saviour found a home, whenever 
His ministry brought Him to Jerusalem. They appear 
to have been persons of some note in the village and city. 
They probably possessed a comfortable temporal main- 
tenance, if indeed they were not wealthy. They did not, 
so far as we know, accompany our Lord in His journeys, 
as other women did, ministering unto Him of their sub- 
stance. But their hearts and hands always gave' Him a 
cordial welcome to their home. And His communion 
with them was more intimate than with any other family 
mentioned in the sacred narrative. 

The two sisters come prominently before us on three 
notable occasions. The first is that in which Martha is 
“ cumbered about much serving,” while Mary sits “ at 
Jesus’ feet, and hears His word.” The second is at 
the grave of Lazarus. The third is at the supper in 
Bethany, where Martha served, and Mary anointed the 
Saviour’s feet. They appear and disappear, therefore, 
in the common occurrences of daily and domestic life. 


* See Dr. Hanna’s “Two Sisters,” in The Sunday Magazine, Oct., 

1868. 


262 


Companion Characters. 


And the study of their respective characters should be 
not less interesting than instructive. “The Christian 
life at home ” is a theme of vital nearness to all of us. 
Scriptural examples, therefore, in illustration of its man- 
ifestations, trials, and triumphs, have a peculiar attrac- 
tion to all who, in the unvarnished routine of every-day 
life, are seeking to honor and serve the Lord to whom 
they have given themselves. 

From the incident recorded by Luke, the impression 
has become quite general that in these sisters of Bethany 
we have types and illustrations of the unregenerate and 
the converted life. Martha is the worldling, Mary is the 
Christian. That this is a mistake will be evident upon 
a more careful study of the history, and a more discrim- 
inating analysis of the natures and conduct of the two 
women. They were both disciples of Christ. There is 
not the slightest evidence that Martha was any less truly 
and tenderly attached to the Lord Jesus than Mary. 
Indeed, it was the very strength of her affection for Him 
that gave rise to that anxiety for which He deems it 
necessary to administer a gentle rebuke. And soon af- 
ter, before her brother’s sepulchre, she professes her faith 
in Christ in terms which, for clearness of view and unre- 
servedness of trust, are unsurpassed by that of any of 
the disciples. In our examination of these contrasted 
lives, therefore, we proceed upon this basis, viz., that 
they are both Christian lives. This view, as we shall 
see, gives rise to a number of suggestive reflections. 
We have, 


Martha and Mary. 


263 


/. — The two sides of Christian Character. 

This is a thought with which we became familiar in 
our examination of the preceding pair of these “ Com- 
panion Characters/’ — Peter and John. The thought re- 
ceives fresh illustration from Martha and Mary, and is 
especially emphasized in the first scene in which they 
appear before us. Of the two sisters, Martha is the 
Peter, and Mary is the John. The one is the stirring 
and active life ; the other is the quiet and contemplative 
spirit. It is Martha who receives the Lord into her 
house ; and on her rests the burden of providing for 
Him a suitable entertainment. It is Mary who sits at 
His feet and hears His word. Martha rejoices to min- 
ister to Him in temporal things, Mary to be ministered 
unto by Him in spiritual things. The one is glad to 
give, the other to receive. In these two ways, the prom- 
inent features of their religious characters manifested 
themselves. At the same time, both of them equally 
loved and faithfully trusted in their Lord. Martha’s 
love revealed itself in the service of ministering, while 
Mary’s is made known in the service of hearing the 
Lord’s gracious words. 

This difference in the characters of the Bethany Sis- 
ters was not temporary nor superficial. It was a radical 
and permanent difference. We have seen how it was in 
the course of their every-day life. It took the same 
direction in the time of sorrow and bereavement. It is 
the bustling and energetic Martha who goes to meet 
the long-delaying Saviour, though she goes with weep- 
ing and with lamentation. But it is the calm and med- 


264 . Companion Characters. 

itative Mary who still sits in the house, overwhelmed 
with grief. It was not, perhaps, that she loved her 
brother more than Martha did ; but that grief weighs 
more heavily upon such silent natures. The turbulent 
flood finds an outlet in the activities of the one ; while 
in the case of the other it frets and chafes all the more 
against the restraints of quietude. 

The same difference of character and disposition ap- 
pears in the time of gladness, as of gloom. In the last 
appearance of these sisters, at the feast in Bethany, they 
testified their joy and gratitude for the recovery of 
Lazarus, as before their sorrow for his loss, in methods 
that were in keeping with their different temperaments. 
Martha is now glad to serve her Lord, while her risen 
brother sits at meat with Him. But Mary more quietly 
attests her grateful affection, by breaking the alabaster 
box, and anointing the feet of her gracious Redeemer. 
Each woman acts like herself, whenever she appears in 
the sacred narrative. Divine grace has beautified and 
ennobled the characteristic traits of each ; but it has not 
obliterated them. That grace did the same, as we have 
seen, no more, no less, for Peter and for John. 

And grace Divine exerts the same influence still. 
Like the mantle of snow, which whitens and glorifies 
the mountain and the plain ; but does not level the one, 
nor upheave the other : so does the grace of God enrobe 
the soul in its own glorious dress ; but it does not ob- 
literate the natural characteristics by which it is dis- 
tinguished from all its fellows. The Johns are not 
turned into Peters, nor are the Marthas transformed into 
Marys. There are still, as ever, the two sides of Chris- 


Martha and Mary. 


265 


tian character — “ activity and passivity, direction toward 
the external and toward the internal, the practical and 
the more contemplative temper, spontaneity and recep- 
tivity, love and faith, unwearied activity and immovable 
rest.” * 

These two sides of the Christian character are espec- 
ially prominent in Martha and Mary. But obviously 
there are other aspects of the life of faith not less im- 
portant. Such differences in the inward spirit and the 
outward life of Christianity as are not incompatible 
with its fundamental principles, we must recognize ; and 
act also with practical regard to them. A distinguished 
minister and author thus wisely expresses the thought : 
— “ There is not only room enough within the large en- 
closures of the church for Peters and Johns and Marthas 
and Marys — for all kinds and diversities of natural char- 
acter, spontaneously developing themselves, each in its 
own peculiar sphere, and after its own peculiar fashion, 
but it was meant that it should be so. The church is 
that body of which Jesus is the living Head; and as 
varied as are the forms, the structures, the offices and 
uses of the different members of which the human body 
is composed, so varied in disposition, in development, 
in acts and habits not only may, but ought, the spiritual 
membership of Christ to be. It is by this very variety 
in unity that the whole community of the faithful can 
alone make up, and be fitly framed into, that one body, 
the church ; and as vain and wrong as it will be for the 
eye to say to the hand, 4 1 have no need of thee/ or the 

* Lange’s Commentary on Luke x. 38-42. 


12 


266 


Companion Characters. 


hand to the foot, ‘ I have no need of thee so vain and 
wrong is it for Christians differently constituted, differ- 
ently situated, and differently engaged, to look out each 
askance from his own separate sphere, and to condemn 
others.” * 

But, while we carefully refrain from the uncharitable 
condemnation of others, we are perfectly at liberty to 
criticise severely, and by so doing, to perfect ourselves. 
This suggests another reflection, of no small importance, 
viz. — 

II. — Christian Character is specially liable to Damage from the In- 
tensity of an Individual Peculiarity. 

Taking these two women as types of two forms or 
aspects of Christianity, it is plain enough that Martha 
could not and ought not to have become Mary. But is 
it not equally plain that her special danger and tempta- 
tion were to become more of a Martha than she ought 
to be, or needed to be ? Mary’s temptation was, per- 
haps, equally strong in the opposite direction. The 
mistakes which we make in this matter are manifold ; 
mainly, perhaps, because we are so little given to self- 
introspection. Some of us seem never to know our 
weakest point ; and, the enemy assailing us there, we 
are easily overthrown. But more of us never learn 
where we are strongest, and so never know how to avail 
ourselves of our might. There are yet others of us 
who have cultivated the natural bent of our spirits — 
disposition or temperament — until it has reached ab- 


* Dr. Hanna, ut supra . 


Martha and Mary. 


267 


normal proportions. If we are Marthas, our activities 
must go with the rush and hurry, and sometimes de- 
structiveness of a whirlwind. If we are Marys, our con- 
templativeness has grown into stagnation and laziness. 
On either hand, the danger of harm arises from the very 
excess and intensity of that for which our characters are 
specially distinguished and separated from those of our 
brethren. 

This was the trouble with Martha. She was wrong, 
not only in not recognizing that Mary was serving the 
Lord in the way most accordant with her natural dis- 
position, but also in allowing herself to be carried to an 
extreme, in the direction of her own natural disposition : 
And what was true of her, may be true of some of us. 
“ Unquietness, distractedness, and impatience are apt to 
be generated when this spirit is too largely indulged. 
Let undue time and thought and care be lavished upon 
the manifold activities of Christian labor ; and there may 
come an indisposition to, and an incapacity for, that in- 
ward calmness, collectedness, composure, quiet waiting, 
up-turned, up-looking mood of mind and heart so abso- 
lutely necessary for all close, continued communion with 
our Lord, for the reception from Him of those great 
spiritual blessings that He imparts. For the want of this 
nothing can compensate. It is the one thing needful 
for the Christian life.” * 

It will be observed that this language bears particu- 
larly upon the danger of excess in the cherishing and in 
the exhibition of a Martha spirit. In less common and 


* Dr. Hanna, in the Article ut supra. 


268 


Companion Characters. 


more isolated instances, there is doubtless just as much 
danger from the undue prevalence of the Mary spirit. 
But this is not the special temptation of the great 
majority of the Christian brotherhood, at least in our 
days. The church has passed through ages when the 
general tendency was toward the quietude and contem- 
plativeness of Mary’s spirit. In those times, people 
who aspired to any eminence in the Christian life, sought 
the monastery and the nunnery. In the seclusion of 
cloister life, rather than in the care and trouble of many 
things, they hoped to make the greatest advancement 
in the life of faith. It is hardly necessary to say that 
this spirit exhausted itself through its excesses. 

We need no warning against any such extreme. We 
live under a different regime. Mary has abdicated the 
throne ; and Martha now sways the sceptre. And we 
all feel the spirit of the age. No one can be an eminent 
Christian, in our day, who does not “ run ” a church, 
superintend two or three Sabbath-schools, attend all the 
prayer-meetings for which he can find a vacant hour, — 
besides giving some attention between times to the 
business of providing bread and butter for his children, 
and of paying his honest debts ! As this stirring Martha 
spirit sweeps hurriedly by, some of us, gasping for breath 
in the commotion, may feel like clutching at her mantle, 
as it flutters in horizontal lines toward the rear, and 
pleading with her to hold on a bit ; but it is of no use ! 
She is gone in a moment : and our vain cry is borne 
away, on the wings of the wind, in the opposite direc- 
tion ! 

We use the language of exaggeration ? One would 


Martha and Mary. 


269 


hope so : but after all, and in all soberness, is it much 
exaggerated? Is it not perfectly plain that the stirring, 
restless, active, careful, and anxious spirit of Martha is 
the spirit of our time ? Are we not careful and troubled 
about many things? Are we not engrossed with the 
things that are merely temporal? Well has it been 
said, — “ It is not open sin or flagrant breaches of the 
Lord’s commands alone, which lead men to eternal ruin ! 
It is far more frequently an excessive attention to things 
in themselves lawful, and the being ‘ cumbered about 
much serving ! ’ It seems so right to provide for our 
own ! It seems so proper to attend to the duties of our 
station ! It is just here our danger lies. Our families,, 
our business, our daily callings, our household affairs, 
our intercourse with society — all these may become 
snares to our hearts, and may draw us away from God. 
Profits and pleasures alike are dearly purchased, if, in 
order to obtain them, we thrust aside eternity from our 
thoughts, abridge our Bible-reading, become careless 
hearers of the Gospel, while we become formal, and 
brief, and cold, in our private communion with God. ” * 
The quaint and sprightly Matthew Henry says, “Care is 
good and duty, but cumber is sin and folly.” “Worldly 
things are then a snare to us, when they hinder us from 
serving God, and getting good to our souls.” 

The Christians of our generation need more of the 
Mary spirit, and perhaps less of the Martha. We need 
more attention to the inner and spiritual life of the 
church, and less devotion to its external condition. The 


Ryle’s “Expository Thoughts,”— Luke x. 38-42. 


270 


Companion Characters. 


fountain of the Christian life is a “ hidden ” spring. The 
pure, pellucid, sparkling stream can be secured and 
maintained only by attention at the fountain-head. The 
Christian’s strength is in the “secret place.” When the 
incoming wave of worldliness washes through and over 
that hiding-place, he is undone! We need the inter- 
mingling of the Bethany sisters’ spirits ! In a word, we 
need more of the imitation of Christ ; for in zeal and 
activity Martha only followed Him ; and in her calm 
and peaceful spirit-communings Mary also resembled 
the Saviour, whom she loved not more nor less faith- 
fully than her sister Martha. It is only as we guard 
against excess in either direction that our character shall 
become most symmetrical. 

Still another reflection, suggested by these contrasted 
characters, is of vast moment ; viz. — 


III . — The Influence of our Internal State , upon our External Life , is 
Controlling. 

This thought possesses many relations and ramifica- 
tions which it would be impossible for us now to ex- 
plore. It will be enough for us to trace it through the 
two channels indicated in the history. 

i. The one line of thought terminates upon Mary. 
Sitting at the Saviour’s feet, conscious of the purity and 
rectitude of her motives in so serving her Lord, she 
has nothing to say of her sister’s complaint, so unrea- 
sonable and unjust. She is not provoked by it into any 
recriminating charge. She must have been wounded 
and grieved by her sister’s fault-finding ; but she leaves 
her vindication to the Lord, whom she loves, and loves 


Martha and Mary. 


271 


to hear. Nor is she disappointed. The gracious Master 
takes up her cause, and defends His trusting disciple. 

And this is His method still. There is still a “needs 
be ” about offences. They must come ! There are still, 
as in Paul’s time, not only wicked, but “ unreasonable 
men.” There still live Marthas, who would have all 
other people to be Marthas. There are still some Peters, 
who would run the Johns out of the country! Because 
you do not serve the Lord as they do, that Lord now 
hears complaints against you. But you need not be 
troubled by them. Only see to it that you are faithfully 
serving Christ, in your sphere, and in accordance with 
those faculties and aptitudes which He has given you, 
and that in so doing you run to no extreme ; — see you 
to these things : and the Almighty Saviour will be your 
advocate against the unreasonable complaints of your 
brethren. He will Himself plead your cause. 

This is the wide field of so many of those uncharita- 
ble judgments which the Lord condemns ; and we may 
well dwell upon it a little longer. The Christian mother, 
of retiring disposition, instinctively seeking the shade 
and privacy, and with a houseful of children, to be taught 
and trained in their tender years to love their Lord and 
hers, finds among them the more than sufficient field for 
the fullest development and exercise of her special apti- 
tudes and powers. She is not, therefore, found among 
the more active, public, and aggressive workers in the 
Lord’s cause. And for this she is censured by them, as 
selfish, indolent, exclusive, or indifferent. And yet is 
she not doing her Master’s work, in the sphere for which 
she is peculiarly adapted ? And if, in response to the 


272 


Companion Characters. 


unreasonable calls of her more stirring sisters, she were 
to abandon it to join in their activities, would not her 
life be a series of failures and mortifications ; from which 
they themselves would be glad at length to retire her, 
convinced of what she knew at first, that she had no 
aptitudes for such a life ? And so with a wounded spirit 
and a sore conscience she returns to the kind of Chris- 
tian service for which her Lord has peculiarly endowed 
her, and which she ought never to have forsaken. 

In other directions also we meet with these unchari- 
table judgments. The contemplative recluse can not 
resist the temptation to remind his more active brother 
that there is a zeal that is not according to knowledge ; 
and that he may possibly find a Scripture most appro- 
priate to his life and condition in the complaint of the 
Bride in the Song of Songs, — “ They made me keeper 
of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not 
kept.” So, too, a Boanerges can not endure the mildness 
of a Barnabas. In his eyes the world is full of sin, cor- 
ruption, and wrong. It is no time for words of conso- 
lation : and he continually chafes in spirit because his 
brethren are not all “ Sons of thunder.” In like man- 
ner, that Christian woman who finds her most appro- 
priate and congenial sphere of work at home, is under 
special temptation to find fault with her more vigorous 
sister, because she, as seems to her, neglects that part of 
their Master s work which to her appears both so im- 
portant and fitting, to do an outside work ; which never- 
theless it is important should be done, and for which she 
has so many and such obvious qualifications. 

One result of these harsh and unreasonable com- 


Martha and Mary. 


273 


plaints, is that many of the Lord’s true disciples suffer 
untold anxieties from the vagueness of their views of 
the limits of their responsibility. This vagueness largely 
arises from the fact, that, because of the censures of 
their brethren, they fear to give any proper weight to 
the character of those peculiar aptitudes and tem- 
peraments with which they have been Divinely en- 
dowed, as an element in determining the sphere in 
which the Lord would have them work. Very many, 
therefore, are so burdened with a sense of sin for the 
failure to do what is far off, and to them unattainable, 
and for which they are unfitted by natural bent and 
temperament, that they fail also to do what lies just at 
their hand, and in the sphere of their dispositions and 
aptitudes. It is quite true that the doctrine may be 
abused to justify going to an extreme, in the direction 
of either the Mary or the Martha spirit. But it is a 
sound doctrine nevertheless that these Divinely given 
tastes, faculties, and dispositions ought to guide us in 
the selection of the kind of work which we shall do, and 
feel called to do, for our Lord. 

Nor is there any just ground for these uncharitable 
judgments of which we have been speaking. Let the 
Marthas know that the Marys are truly serving the Lord, 
though only sitting at His feet! Let the Johns give 
the Peters credit for a true devotion to the Redeemer’s 
cause, though they be not wrapt in mystic contempla- 
tions, and prefer to live an active, bustling life. And 
let both the Peters and the Marthas on the one side, and 
the Marys and the Johns on the other, understand that 
each needs some infusion of the character of the other, 


Companion Characters. 


274 

if they would be most perfectly conformed to the blessed 
Saviour, loved and served, perhaps, in equal measure by 
them both. 

2. The other line of thought terminates upon Martha. 
It may be summarized in the single statement, that we 
shall never bring others any nearer to Christ than we 
live ourselves. “ Careful and troubled about many 
things,” Martha would draw Mary away from Christ. 
While Mary sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard His word, her 
sister said, “ Lord, dost thou not care that my sister 
hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she 
help me.” But afterward, when, in the time of trouble, 
Jesus came to them ; and she had that blessed interview 
with Him near the grave of her brother, so comforting 
to her own heart, this same Martha becomes the nimble 
messenger of glad tidings to bring her sister Mary to 
share the presence and consolations of their Lord. With 
what alacrity does she bear to her sorrowing sister the 
soul-cheering message, “ The Master is come, and calleth 
for thee ! ” 

The Martha of the one incident differs so much, in 
spirit and conduct, from the Martha of the other, that 
we find ourselves almost inclined to wonder whether it 
can be the same woman in both cases. It is the same 
Martha : and in the reason for her two opposite courses 
of action we may find a much-needed lesson for us as to 
our influence upon our fellow-men. The elder sister 
was a true Christian, we can not doubt. But so long as 
her mind was engrossed with temporal cares and pur- 
suits and duties, it was her desire that Mary should be 
like her. She could not appreciate the blessedness ot 


Martha and Mary. 


275 


her sister’s choice and station at her Saviour’s feet. So 
far had she fallen away from the heights of her spiritual 
privileges, that the utmost of her desire for her sister 
was that she might be as worldly and as full of care as 
she was herself. How unworthy of Martha this was, we 
need not stop to say ! But are we not in danger of the 
same sin ? 

Our influence upon our companions and neighbors, 
whether they be fellow-disciples, or still impenitent, will 
be determined by the same thing, — our own internal 
condition. If we are living far from God, in a state of 
spiritual declension, we shall be found exerting a power- 
ful, whether conscious or unconscious, influence upon 
all with whom we come in contact. If they are the 
Lord’s people, we shall be leading them away from Him, 
and influencing them to be as cold, formal, and worldly 
as we are ourselves. And, if they are still unregenerate 
people, they find comfort for their consciences, not 
wholly at 'ease, in the fact that we are so wedded to 
earthly things, that there is little perceptible difference 
between ourselves and them. 

But Martha was not always “ careful and troubled 
about many things.” There came a day when the Lord 
visited her soul. He had come in the power of a great 
sorrow. Now He comes in person, and with gracious 
words draws her very near to Him, and fills her mind 
with a great peace and joy in believing. How differ- 
ently Martha acts now ! Before, she would have drawn 
Mary down from the nearest fellowship with the gracious 
Master. Now, the first impulse of her quickened, re- 
vived, and comforted heart is to go and get Mary to 


276 


Companion Characters. 


come and share with her in this unspeakable blessing. 
And so shall we. When we have near and blessed fel- 
lowship with our Lord, we shall have both the desire 
and the power to draw our brethren also to His gracious 
feet, there to sit and hear His words. 

And it is only when we stand by the Saviour’s side, 
that we have any right to invite, or power to persuade, 
or wisdom to direct sinners to the “ Lamb of God, which 
taketh away the sin of the world.” A blind missionary, 
who was accustomed to visit a House of Refuge, be- 
coming temporarily confused, lost his way, and could 
not find the gate. A number of children were playing 
on the green, who with the best intentions called him 
to go in this way and in that ; but only to confuse him 
still the more. At last, one little fellow, seeing the old 
man in such perplexity, and unable to lead him, ran 
to the gate himself, and thence cried out, “ Come right 
to ME.” The blind man could follow the sound of 
the little voice ; and so soon came up to the gate, and 
got safely in. The incident illustrates our duty. It is 
not enough for us to stand afar off, and cry to the 
lost and blind, to go here or there. We must run first 
ourselves to Christ, and thence send out the assuring 
invitation, “ Come right to ME ! ” 

May we not trace this thought a little further in this 
direction ? We can not take others any nearer Christ 
than we are ourselves. To the parent, and teacher, and 
minister this is a solemn fact. If therefore we would 
bring others nearer and nearer to our Saviour, we must 
be coming nearer and nearer to Him ourselves. But 
how often we fail just in this particular! To illustrate it 


Martha and Mary. 


2 77 


by but one example : — Not seldom is it true that the min- 
ister in holy things carries his people on through a vast 
deal of experimental knowledge of Divine things ; and 
then comes to a stand-still. He proclaims the terrors of 
the law with all boldness and fulness. His preaching is 
searching and troubling and awakening. And it is in- 
fluential. The hearts of his hearers respond to the 
truth which he proclaims. Throughout the congrega- 
tion there is an unusual tenderness of spirit, and souls 
are mourning over sin. They need now to have Christ 
presented as a full and gracious Saviour, and to be in- 
vited to trust in Him for pardon and peace. But this 
the man of God can not do. He has himself such vague 
and unworthy conceptions of the power and grace of 
Christ, that he is not able to bring his people into this 
blessed experience. He has carried them to Mount 
Sinai and through the wilderness ; but he can not take 
them over the Jordan and into the land of peace and 
rest. 

Profoundly solemn and true it is: — He who would 
lead another to Christ must first come to Christ himself ; 
and he who would bring his fellow-man into a richer 
and deeper experience of Divine things must first for 
himself enter into the fulness of the grace which he 
would make known. 


XV. 


PAUL AND BARNABAS. 

I N Paul and Barnabas we come to the last but not least 
pair of these “ Companion Characters.” Their names 
are not found among the original Twelve ; but they were 
none the less Apostles both in spirit and commission. 
By the appointment of the Lord, in the consecration of 
the Spirit, and with the prayers of the Church, they 
were sent forth to minister the tidings of grace to the 
Gentiles. They were both admirably qualified for their 
work by their birth, training, and natural characteristics. 
They were both “Jews of the Dispersion,” born and 
reared, not in the Holy Land, but among them that 
were “scattered abroad.” Barnabas was a native of 
Cyprus, where he probably possessed some property ; 
for he sold the land, and “ brought the money and laid 
it at the Apostles’ feet.” Paul, a native of Tarsus in 
Cilicia, was born to a poorer temporal estate apparently 
(for he was a tent-maker), but to higher advantages in 
other respects. By his birth, he obtained the valuable 
franchises of Roman citizenship. The one, we are told, 
was a Levite ; while the other boasted of his pure de- 
scent from the tribe of Benjamin. A similar tribal deri- 
vation may be seen in Samuel and Saul. The first 
(278) 


/ 


Paul and Barnabas. 279 

prophet seems to have been of the tribe of Levi (cp. 1 
Sam. i. 1, and 1 Chron. vi. 27 and 34) ; and from “ little 
Benjamin ” came forth the first king of Israel. It may 
not be altogether imagination that finds some trace of 
Samuel's benignity in Barnabas, and of Saul’s impetu- 
osity and fire in him who was also called Paul. 

The two men were well fitted to work together. 
Alike generous and self-sacrificing, their common love 
to the once lowly Nazarene bound them together as true 
yoke-fellows in the common work. In the later history 
Barnabas drops out of sight ; and Paul towers, like the 
royal Saul, so far above his brethren, that we are liable 
to the temptation of unwittingly underrating the “ Son 
of Consolation.” As Jonathan by the side of David, so 
Barnabas is shaded by his more illustrious companion. 
We must not forget, however, that in their earlier inter- 
course, Barnabas was the more prominent. As a matter 
of fact, indeed, Paul was indebted to Barnabas for some 
of his own rapid advancement, so far as any human in- 
strumentalities brought it about. This will be suffi- 
ciently evident upon examining the first of four scenes, 
in which these two men appear together in the his- 
tory, viz., — 

/. — Barnabas Introducing Paul both at Jerusalem and Antioch. 

The early Church, as is true of the modern, was slow 
of heart to believe in the mighty spiritual powers which, 
in every way, were co-working with her. When the Lord 
had risen from the dead, in accordance with His often- 
repeated word, there was none of His disciples who 
seems "to have been expecting it. They were all sur- 


280 


Companion Characters. 


prised. It seemed to them an idle tale, and they be- 
lieved it not. So also, when the angel opened the prison 
doors for Peter, the praying band could not credit the 
speedy answer to their supplications. In like manner, 
when the risen and ascended Saviour laid His strong 
arm on Saul of Tarsus, there were but few who could 
trust the report that came to Jerusalem, — “ He which 
persecuted us in times past, now preacheth the faith 
which once he destroyed/’ 

Thus it came about that, when Paul appeared in Je- 
rusalem, all on fire with love to the Lord whom he had 
persecuted, and sought the fellowship of the Brethren, 
his advances were rejected. The blaspheming murderer, 
so lately breathing out threatenings and slaughter against 
the brotherhood of disciples, now himself a disciple! 
The news is too good to be true ! He is rather a wolf 
in sheep’s clothing! He seeks admission to the fold 
only the more easily to play havoc with the flock ! 
These were probably their thoughts ; and so they turned 
a cold shoulder on the new convert. They barred the 
door against the suspected disciple, and would have 
none of him. 

Paul was in a perplexing strait. He was already ac- 
cursed by his kindred according to the flesh ; and those 
who were now his kindred in the higher relationships of 
the spirit, refused to own him as a member of the family ! 
What can he do ? Is there no one among the believers 
who has faith enough to give credence to his story of 
converting grace ; and, recognizing in him the linea- 
ments of a true disciple, has grace enough to put aside 
his prejudices, and receive a brother whom the Lord 


Paul and Barnabas. 


281 


himself receives? Is there no one here to befriend the 
friendless ? 

Yes; there is one: and that is Barnabas. We have 
no evidence that he knew Paul before his conversion. 
We can not, therefore, attribute his magnanimous con- 
duct to such previous acquaintance and friendship. It 
was a higher motive that influenced the “ Son of Con- 
solation.” While others were saying, as was said of the 
earlier Benjamite, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” 
he had compassion on the outcast stranger. He took 
him to his heart and love. No Divine message came to 
him, in visions of the night, as to Ananias, to tell him 
Paul was heaven’s chosen vessel. He seems to have 
found that out himself. His spiritual instincts recog- 
nized in Paul a brother. Paul’s story of redeeming love, 
like genuine coin, carried in itself its own best evidence. 
And such was the spiritual insight of Barnabas (for, as 
the sacred penman says, “ He was a good man, full of 
faith, and of the Holy Ghost ” ), that he felt the force 
of the testimony. Despite all outward probabilities, he 
bowed before its power. And, convinced himself that 
Paul was truly converted, he generously befriended him, 
and by his influence gained for him a fitting place among 
the company of the faithful in Jerusalem. He “took 
him, and brought him to the Apostles, and declared 
unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and 
that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached 
boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.” 

This was a generous thing for Barnabas to do ; and 
it throws a flood of light upon his natural character and 
spiritual attainments. There are but few, even in our 


282 


Companion Characters, 


day, who, at the peril of their own good standing, labor 
quietly to remove unwarranted suspicions from a fellow- 
disciple. There are fewer still, gifted with such insight 
of spiritual things, as to be able to pierce the unfavor- 
able surface appearance, and to detect the underlying 
presence of real grace in the heart. This did Barnabas. 
They are truly “ Sons of Consolation ” who follow in 
his footsteps. They may not, indeed, be permitted to 
advance another Paul ; but their course shall neverthe- 
less speak for the peace and happiness of Zion. “ Next 
only to the man who achieves the greatest and most 
blessed deeds is he who, perhaps himself wholly incapa- 
ble of such high work, is yet the first to help and en- 
courage the genius of others. We often do more good 
\ by our sympathy than by our labors, and render to the 
world a more lasting service by absence of jealousy, and 
recognition of merit, than we could ever render by the 
straining efforts of personal ambition.” * 

At Antioch also, Barnabas opened the way for Paul. 
The Church had outgrown the national boundaries of 
the people among whom it had been first established. 
At Antioch the Gospel mightily prevailed. Tidings of 
this wonderful success soon came to the parent church 
in Jerusalem. Barnabas was commissioned to visit the 
scenes of such marvellous triumphs. His was a most 
important duty. Antioch, a great commercial empori- 
um, was now thoroughly and wonderfully stirred by the 
new religion. It did not take Barnabas long to discover 
that here was a field already opened up for the working 


Farrar’s “ Life and Work of St. Paul,” Vol. I., page 238. 


Paul and Barnabas. 


283 


of a master mind. There was just one man to fill the 
place. That man was Paul. And Barnabas started to 
find him. He found him in his native Tarsus, whither 
persecution had driven him ; and he brought him to 
Antioch. 

Here, again, Barnabas shows his magnanimity. He 
bore himself the commission of the Church of Jerusalem. 
He was not destitute of qualifications for fulfilling it 
with credit and fidelity. The great field was open to 
him. His own great and immediate and honorable ad- 
vancement seemed assured. But he thought of the work, 
and then of Paul. “ Barnabas instinctively perceived that 
a fresher point of view, a clearer insight, a wider culture, a 
more complete immunity from prejudices were needed 
for so large and delicate a task. Himself a Grecian, and 
now called upon to minister not only to Grecians, but to 
Greeks, he longed for the aid of one who would main- 
tain the cause of truth and liberality with superior abil- 
ity and more unflinching conviction.”* He knew that 
Paul possessed eminent qualifications for the field ; and 
so without any delay he went for him. In doing this, 
Barnabas could hardly have been blind to the probabil- 
ity that Paul would speedily overshadow him, — and that 
from the first he must himself descend to the second 
place. 

But this thought was nothing to him. The great idea 
in his mind was not the place of Barnabas in the Church, 
but the work before that Church, and the best way most 
speedily and thoroughly to accomplish it. His was not 


Farrar, ut supra, page 287. 


284 


Companion Cpiaracters. 


the spirit of those who have no heart for any enterprise 
unless they have the first place. Others, not he, might 
say, 

“ Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven.” 

He was content with even the lowest place, if only 
the great work might prosper, and the name of Jesus 
be more speedily known among the nations of the earth. 

“Thus twice over, did Barnabas save Saul for the 
work of Christianity. To his self-effacing nobleness is 
due the honor of recognizing, before they had yet been 
revealed to others, the fiery vigor, the indomitable en- 
ergy, the splendid courage, the illuminated and illumi- 
nating intellect, which were destined to spend themselves 
in the high endeavor to ennoble and evangelize the 
world.” * He had unfeignedJy rejoiced in the success 
which had attended the preaching of the Gospel before 
he came to Antioch. Now, for twelve months, he will 
rejoice also in the faithful and successful ministrations 
of Saul of Tarsus ; while side by side he labors with 
him in the fellowship of the Gospel. It was the begin- 
ning of a long and faithful co-working in the grandest 
of all ministries. 

This brings us to another passage in these Apostolic 
lives, viz., — 

II . — The First Missionary youmey . 

Antioch was the fitting point of departure for the 
missionary work. It was there first that the Church 
seemed to realize her world-wide mission. There she 


Farrar, ut supra, page 288. 


Paul and Barnabas. 


285 


began to break out of her Jewish shell. The city was 
both a great center and thoroughfare of commerce. She 
stood second only to Corinth among the commercial 
cities of that age. Natives of every country and clime 
crowded her streets, and trafficked in her markets. The 
astonishing success of the Gospel, outside the Jewish 
population, set the Church to thinking and praying. 
They said to one another, — This Gospel of the kingdom, 
breaking over national barriers, has come to us ; and, if 
to us, why not to all the Gentiles? With the same in- 
fluences operating among them, on a more limited scale, 
that we see at work among us, and which ought to make 
us the grandest missionary nation in the world, they 
were not satisfied with the shallow plea, so often urged 
in our day, “ God is bringing the heathen to our own 
door; let us first seek the conversion of those who 
throng our streets and crowd our marts/' They were 
oppressed with the burden of the nations beyond. Many 
of the Antioch Christians, perhaps, were from those out- 
lying nations. The thought that troubled them, we may 
well believe, was something like this, — We have been 
gathered from every land, to receive the glad tidings of 
great joy. Would they not be glad tidings to the peo- 
ples from whom we have come? And have we no mis- 
sion to bear the offer of life to them that are ready to 
perish? Freely we have received, shall we not freely 
give ? 

Such considerations as these drove the Church of that 
busy metropolis to fasting and prayer. It was while 
they were so engaged, seeking to compass the elements 
of the mighty problem before them, that the Holy Spirit 


286 


Companion Characters. 


said, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work 
whereunto I have called them.” The demand was one 
to try the faith of the Church. In effect it was this, — 
The work at home is unfinished ; and it is great and 
urgent : nevertheless solemnly ordain to the work of 
foreign missions your choicest spirits. But the Church 
had grace to obey. And Paul and Barnabas began that 
blessed ministration of mercy to the Gentile world 
which is still emphatically the great and pressing work 
of the Church of Christ. 

The primitive missionaries sailed immediately to Cy- 
prus, the native place of Barnabas ; and thence they 
passed into the regions of Asia Minor, adjacent to Cili- 
cia, the province of Paul’s nativity. This fact is very 
suggestive ; and it by no means conflicts with what has 
just been said. They followed the example of the de- 
moniac of Gadara, who, following the Lord’s direction, 
went home to his friends, to “ tell them what great things 
the Lord had done for him, and had had compassion 
upon him.” Indeed, they followed, too, the direction 
of their Master, who commissioned His disciples to 
preach the Gospel among all nations, “ beginning at Je- 
rusalem.” To begin at home, and thence to spread 
abroad the tidings of grace, is the Divine order in propa- 
gating the Gospel. This was the method followed by 
Paul and Barnabas. And in this they deserve a more 
general imitation. There can be no censure of the 
Church that she begins the work 2ft home. She is justly 
blamed for confining it there. The example of the early 
Church says in unmistakable words, ‘ Wait not for the 
thorough subjugation of the country behind you. Keep 


Paul and Barnabas. 


287 


always and faithfully the best troops in the vanguard 
of the great march.’ And this example is presented to 
us as the direct teaching of the Holy Ghost. Happy 
the Church that hears His voice. 

It was during this missionary journey that the inci- 
dent occurred, referred to in a preceding discourse, as 
illustrating one great feature of God’s method of spread- 
ing and maintaining the true religion, — by sending His 
servants two and two. It was at Lystra, in Lycaonia, 
that Paul and Barnabas came in contact with paganism, 
in a conflict so parallel with the struggle of Moses and 
Aaron with Jannes and Jambres in the court of Pharaoh. 
The reference to the contest here is of value for its in- 
cidental testimony to the different traits of character of 
Paul and Barnabas. The heathen called the latter Ju- 
piter — the very name unwittingly revealing the benig- 
nity of his nature, and, in general, the large and grand 
scale on which the character of Barnabas was formed. 
But Paul they called Mercury, because he was the chief 
speaker. Of bodily presence weak, but in mental struct- 
ure keen, nimble, wiry, logical, and cogent, he was a 
powerful reasoner, and mightily convinced his hearers 
that Jesus of Nazareth was the long-expected Messiah. 
We would not willingly lose the light which this occur- 
rence throws upon the natural disposition and tempera- 
ment of these first missionaries. It confirms our im- 
pression of the fitness of their association in the com- 
mon but novel work. 

But they did not always work together. And with 
this remark we come to another scene in the lives of 
Paul and Barnabas. That is, 


288 


Companion Characters. 


III . — Their Quarrel about Mark , and their Separation. 

Another illustration of the fact that Christians often- 
est come short where they seem strongest, these men 
now sin in that of which they had given so striking an 
example, — the co-working of Christian friendship. They 
disagreed, not upon any fundamental principle of their 
labors, but, as is too often the case, upon a minor mat- 
ter, — that of the person who should attend and assist 
them in their second missionary tour. It was no good- 
natured and mutually forbearing disagreement. They 
both came to a war of words, and seem to have lost 
their tempers, both of them. “ And the contention was 
so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one 
from the other.” Barnabas took Mark and went to 
Cyprus : but Paul chose Silas and went again through 
Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches. 

If we desire to find out who was to blame in this 
quarrel, we shall not have a difficult task. Canon Farrar 
puts the case, for the most part, justly, in these words : 
— “ We are not careful to apportion between them the 
sad measure of blame, or to dwell on the weaknesses 
which marred the perfection of men who have left the 
legacy of bright examples to all the world. In the mere 
matter of judgment each was partly right, each partly 
wrong ; their error lay in the persistency which did not 
admit of mutual accommodation. Each was like himself. 
St. Barnabas may have suffered himself too strongly to 
be influenced by partiality for a relative ; St. Paul by 
the memory of personal indignation. Barnabas may 
have erred on the side of leniency ; Paul on the side of 


Paul and Barnabas. 


289 


sternness. St. Paul’s was so far the worst fault, yet the 
very fault may have risen from his loftier ideal. There 
was a ‘ severe earnestness ’ about him, a sort of intense 
whole-heartedness, which could make no allowance what- 
ever for one who, at the very point at which dangers 
began to thicken, deserted the great and sacred work. 
Mark had put his hand to the plough, and had looked 
back ; and, conscious of the serious hindrance which 
would arise from a second defection, conscious of the 
lofty qualities which were essential to any one who was 
honored with such Divine responsibilities, St. Paul might 
have fairly argued that a cause must not be risked out of 
tenderness for a person. Barnabas, on the other hand, 
might have urged that it was most unlikely that one who 
was now willing to face the work again, should again volun- 
tarily abandon it, and he might fairly have asked whether 
one failure was to stamp a lifetime. Both persisted, and 
both suffered. Paul went his way, and many a time, 
in the stormy and agitated days which followed, must 
he have sorely missed, amid the provoking of all men 
and the strife of tongues, the repose and generosity 
which breathed through the life and character of the 
Son of Exhortation. Barnabas went his way, and, dis- 
severed from the grandeur and vehemence of Paul, 
passed into comparative obscurity, in which, so far from 
sharing the immortal gratitude which embalms the 
memory of his colleague, his name is never heard again, 
except in the isolated allusions of the letters of his 
friend.” * 


* “ Life and Work of St. Paul,” Vol. I., page 450. 


13 


290 Companion Characters. 

There is no reason to doubt, then, that in the spirit 
of the quarrel both the Apostles were at fault. But, in 
every other respect, Paul seems to have been in the 
right. Barnabas desired to take Mark with them ; and, 
had there been no objection to him, that desire would 
have been as proper as it was natural. For Mark was 
his own sister’s son. But in this case, Barnabas seems 
to have permitted the feelings of natural affection to 
blind his spiritual judgment. His is one of the earliest 
instances in Ecclesiastical History of that “ Nepotism ” 
which has so often cursed both Church and State. A 
person in official station may indeed put forward, to sub- 
ordinate places of trust, members of his own family, pro- 
vided they pcfesess the necessary qualifications. But the 
good of the service is the paramount consideration. 
The advancement of relatives must always be subordi- 
nated to the general good. And few men are good 
judges of the abilities of their relatives ; and are, there- 
fore, especially liable to the mistake of Barnabas. A wise 
man will not constitute himself a judge in any such a 
case, but will defer to the judgment of others. 

These remarks, it is true, are applicable to the civil 
service of the country ; but they are none the less true, 
for all that. And they have a far more extensive appli- 
cation. There have been sons of ministers, as indeed of 
men in other walks of life, urged by their parents into 
the sacred office, who, by all natural abilities and apti- 
tudes, could better have served the Lord by measuring 
tape, or even breaking stones. We must earnestly desire 
that our sons may serve the Lord in the work of the 
holy ministry, and we are to earnestly pray that the Lord 


Paul and Barnabas. 


291 


would “ thrust them forth into the harvest but we must 
let the Lord do the “ thrusting,” and not ourselves. 

Paul was right in not wanting Mark. His eye was 
more single than that of his friend. It was not upon 
the man, but the good of the cause. Mark had started 
with them in the first journey; but turned back, as they 
were going away from the home of his relatives, and 
were about to enter upon the most difficult part of the 
work. He thus showed that, at that time at least, he 
was deficient in the spirit of self-denial and devotion, 
which were essential to a true missionary. This seems 
to have been the judgment of the Church at Antioch. 
Barnabas and Mark went off to their native island in a 
pet, and we hear no more of their evangelistic labors. 
But Paul and Silas, with the benediction of the Church, 
went forth upon the missionary journey which culmi- 
nated in opening another continent to the triumphs of 
the glorious Gospel of the Son of God. 

The quarrel, therefore, at first apparently so disastrous 
to the missionary cause, was Divinely overruled to in- 
crease the number of missionary laborers. This result is 
by no means uncommon. The great Head of the # 
Church has committed her interests to weak and fallible 
men. But He still maintains control Himself; and of 
their very weaknesses, foibles, blunders, quarrels, and 
sins, He will build up the elements of her greatest 
strength. The quarrel was made a means of good, even 
to Mark, the cause of it. Paul afterward speaks of him 
as “ profitable to him for the ministry.” And we know 
that he wrote one of the most charming and graphic of 
the Gospel narratives. Nor did the quarrel cause any per- 


292 


Companion Characters. 


manent estrangement between Paul and Barnabas. Paul 
ever accorded to the “ Son of Consolation ” a high place 
among the servants and saints of God. In his account 
of what may have been their last meeting, he gives the 
most decisive, though incidental testimony to the worth 
of his early companion’s character. Paul was glad to re- 
member what was peculiarly noble and Christ-like in 
the firm, fast friend of his own opening ministry. 

This brings us to the final scene* in the lives of “ our 
beloved Barnabas and Paul,” viz. — 

IV . — The Dissimulation , and the Rebuke. 

The occurrence thus characterized took place in An- 
tioch. Peter and Paul were the principal participants 
in the controversy. But Barnabas also was involved in 
it — how, will soon appear. The first great trouble in the 
primitive Church grew out of the persistent narrow- 
mindedness of some of the Jewish believers. In becom- 
ing Christians, they could not forget that they had been 
Jews. This indeed was natural, and in itself was not 
wrong. But what was right for them, they persisted in 
making a law also for the government of their Gentile 
brethren. Slowly they conceded the right of other 
nations to share in the blessings of the Gospel. Long 
after this- right had been all but universally acknowl- 


* It is a question whether this incident in the Church at Antioch 
did not occur before the quarrel about Mark. But as no principle is 
involved, it has not been thought necessary to discuss it, or to re- 
verse the above arrangement of the topics. 

See Farrar’s “ Life and Work of St. Paul,” Vol. I., Chapter XXI 1 1. 
See also Smith’s Bible Dictionary, Article “ Paul. ” 


Paul and Barnabas. 


293 


edged, some still clung to the principle that the Gentiles 
might become Christians only by first becoming Jews. 
They must therefore be circumcised and keep the law of 
Moses. And even after this question had been settled 
by the Council of Apostles and Elders at Jerusalem, in 
opposition to the “ Judaizers,” there were many who 
could not rise to the high plane of Christian intercourse 
implied in the deliverance of the Council — that all con- 
verts to Christianity, whether “ Jews or Gentiles, were to 
bear and forbear and meet together as equals in all re- 
ligious and social gatherings.” This class were chiefly 
from the Jewish Christians of Jerusalem. The Apostles 
— certainly Peter, Paul, and Barnabas — did not belong 
to this class. They had all entered into the fulness of 
the charity of the Gospel. 

When, therefore, Peter came down to Antioch, he 
neither felt nor manifested any scruples about maintain- 
ing the most loving and fraternal intercourse with the 
Christian converts from among the Gentiles. This was 
only doing what was right and essential to the unity and 
growth of the Church. But in the course of time, cer- 
tain Christian Jews, of the stricter sort, came down 
from Jerusalem. We can not say that they were on any 
unfriendly errand. But Peter, overcome again by that 
cowardly spirit which had led him into the denial of his 
Lord and Master, feared to offend them. He knew that 
“ however much they might tolerate the non-observance 
of the law by the Gentiles, they would look with suspi- 
cion — perhaps almost with horror — on any Jew who re- 
pudiated obligations which, for him at any rate, they 
regarded as stringent and sacred.” He therefore broke 


294 


Companion Characters. 


away from the loving fellowship which up to this time 
he had maintained with the Gentile Brethren, and be- 
came as exclusive as the most exclusive who had come 
“from James.” Peter’s influence was of course very 
great among his kindred according to the flesh ; and 
many of them were led into the same inconsistent and 
unbrotherly position. And the Apostle Paul, who gives 
us the history of the matter, says that even “ Barnabas 
also was carried away with their dissimulation.” 

These words afford a striking testimony to the noble- 
ness of the character of Barnabas. To the single eye of 
the Apostle Paul, it was an evidence of the depth and 
wide-spread nature of this new danger to the Church, 
that even his beloved friend, who, before all others, had 
manifested so wise, prudent, conciliatory, and catholic a 
spirit, should now, not only connive at, but actually join 
in such dissimulation ! 

The motive which actuated Barnabas was probably 
an unwillingness to give offence, a desire to please, and 
to keep all things smooth while the Judaizing brethren 
remained in Antioch. He did: not,, nor did Peter, see 
that true peace can never be permanently secured by the 
sacrifice of principle. Alas ! how many even in our day 
are in like manner blind, and act in the same inconsist- 
ent way. With them it is an all-important matter to 
have peace in the Church — to keep things smooth. The 
motive is more creditable to their charity than to their 
judgment : and it is a false charity too. And it is 
usually as unavailing as it is sinful. It is a thousand 
times better for a Church to keep ta the truth, and to do 
the right, than to have things smooth. The air that s 


Paul and Barnabas. 


295 

still is sometimes pestilential. Quiet waters are often 
stagnant and malarious. 

So Paul thought. And, at the risk of alienating not 
only Peter, but also his true' and faithful and earliest 
friend, Barnabas, he was for settling the trouble on 
Christian principles. “ To eat with the Gentiles, to live 
as do the Gentiles, was for a Jew either right or wrong. 
Interpreted in the light of those truths which lay at the 
very bases of the Gospel, it was right ; and if the Church 
was to be one and indivisible, the agreement that the 
Gentiles were not to put on the yoke of Mosaism seemed 
to imply that they were not to lose status by declining 
to do so. But to~ shilly-shally on the matter, to act in 
one way to-day and in a different way to-morrow, to let 
the question of friendly intercourse depend on the pres- 
ence or absence of people who were supposed to repre- 
sent the stern personality of James, could not under any 
circumstances be right. It was monstrous that the un- 
circumcised Gentile convert was at one time to be treat- 
ed as a brother, and at another to be shunned as though 
he were a Pariah.” * 

With an uncompromising courage, therefore, Paul 
withstood the dissemblers face to face. In some public 
assembly *of the Church of Antioch, he bravely rebuked 
the vacillating Peter before them all. Speaking the 
truth in love, he settled forever the firm foundations of 
the Christian intercourse of believers of every name and 
nation. Paul was eminently successful in his arduous 
task. The crisis passed. The progress of the incipient 


* Farrar, ut supra , page 441. 


2g6 


Companion Characters. 


division was stayed. The Church was saved. She now 
entered upon a new era of loving and brotherly devotion 
to the great work of scattering the tidings of salvation 
to the ends of the earth. 

With this happy consummation thus at length attained, 
and with these missionary Apostles friends again as in 
the beginning, we may now take our leave of Paul and 
Barnabas. Blessed in their common hope and work ; 
instructive examples of mutual adaptations to their la- 
bors, and, after painful experiences, to each other ; and 
happy in the undying memory of their great and true 
success; fittingly — as in the sacred story — they finish 
the list of these “ Companion Characters.’’ 


INDEX. 


A. 

Aaron and Moses 50 

Aaron, Consecrated after 
his fall, 66 ; Dependent on 
Moses at Mount Sinai, 65 ; 
Fails just where strongest, 

65 ; Restoration of, and 
Peter's, 67 ; The training 
of, in the life of bondage, 

52 ; Weakly yielding to the 
people, 64. 

Abel and Cain 9 

Abel, Dead, yet speaking, 

28 ; Faith of, in an atoning 
Saviour, 17 ; Offering of, 
accepted, and why ? 13, 14. 

Ahab’ssin distinguished from 
Jeroboam’s, 63. 

Ahasuerus, is Xerxes, 205. 

Ambition, Cruelties of a self- 
ish, 215; Vaulting, over- 
leaping itself, 215. 

Am I my brother’s keeper ? 
Some truth implied in the 
question, 23. 

Antioch, Character of, 285 ; 

The first missionary center, 

285. 

Arraignment and sentence of 
Cain, The, 21. 

Association, Undue depend- 
ence on Christian, 199. 

Athaliah, Character and usur- 
pation of, 190. 


B. 

Bad good men, as well as 
good bad men, 38. 

Balaam and Balak 74 

Contrasted with Moses and 
Aaron, 74 ; Perishing in 
the midst of light, 95 ; Ba- 
laam, Curses of, why for- 
bidden, 86 ; Double-mind- 
edness of, 81-83 ; Fine 
sentiments of, 80 ; Know- 
ing but resisting God’s will, 

93 ; Powers of, 77 ; Re- 
strained that Balak might 
be constrained, 87 ; Una- 
vailing methods in dealing 
with, 89, 90 ; Veracious 
but untruthful, 94 ; Balak, 
balked and becoming stub- 
born, 91 ; Believing in su- 
pernatural powers, 75 ; 
Deaf when denied, 92 ; 
Embassies of, to Balaam, 

77 ; Flattering Balaam, 77 ; 
How dealt with in mercy, 
87-89 ; The subject of gra- 
cious spiritual influences, 

87. 

Banqueting amidst the sor- 
rowing, 218. 

Barnabas and Paul. .A • 278 
Barnabas and a Boanerges, 

272 ; Conduct of, at Anti- 
och, Motive of, 283 ; Gen- 
try) 


298 


Index. 


erosity of, 281 ; Introduc- 
ing - Paul to his work, 279 ; 
Magnanimity of, 283 ; Na- 
tivity and descent of, 278 ; 
Opening Paul’s way at An- 
tioch, 282 ; Overshadowed 
by Paul, 279 ; Paul and, at 
Lystra, 287 ; Paul and, both 
censurable, 288 ; Self-sac- 
rificing, 284. 

Battle, of conscience and cov- 
etousness in Balaam, 84 ; 
Of the supernatural, 59 ; 
Of the supernatural in mod- 
ern times, 60. 

Bedouin, Elijah an ancient, 
173- 

Beginning at Jerusalem, 286. 

Bethany, Circumstances of 
the sisters of, 261 ; Seclu- 
sion of, 260 ; Situation of, 
260 ; The town of Martha 
and Mary, 261. 

Biography, a prominent feat- 
ure of the Bible, Preface, 
5- 

Blaikie, Dr. W. G., in The 
Sunday Magazine, Quoted, 
254- 

Blinding oneself, 94 ; Ways 
of doing it, 94. 

Blood, the voice of, 26. 

Bloody Fountain, Judah’s al- 
liance with Jezebel a, 190. 

Boanerges, Barnabas and a, 
272. 

Bonar, Dr. H., Quoted, 27. 

Brother, Where is thy ? 22. 

Builders, of the Restoration, 
227 ; The Model, 230. 

Building for the future, 233. 

Bush on Genesis, Quoted, 49. 


c. 

Cain and Abel 9 

Lessons from the lives of. 


18-29 ; Cain, a wanderer 
in spirit more than in fact, 
24 ; Exhorted, or warned ? 
20 ; Like the rich young 
ruler, 18 ; Name of, as given 
by Eve, 11; Offering of, 
more pleasing naturally 
than Abel’s, 15 ; Offering 
of, rejected, and why, 14 ; 
Self-righteousness of, 17 ; 
Spirit of, contrasted with 
that of Adam and Eve, 22 ; 
Tenderly reasoned with, by 
his Maker, 18, 

Caleb and Joshua 

Believe God, 105 ; In con- 
trast with Balaam and Ba- 
lak, 97 ; Caleb more prom- 
inent than Joshua in thje 
report of the spies, 105 ; 
Cheerful waiting on God 
of, 1 1 1 ; Who was Caleb ? 
98. 

Capacity, lost through disuse, 
267. 

Chameleon-Christians, 202. 

Character, developing in ac- 
cordance with choice, 119 ; 
Perfecting, 43. 

Character and conduct, con- 
trasted lines of human, 9. 

Characters of the Bible im- 
perfect, 33. 

Children, who are good do 
not always die young, 137. 

Choice, of Christ or not, in 
view of difficulties, 121 ; 
Of the world, Men’s mo- 
tives in, 122 ; Ruth’s, and 
her motive, 127. 

Choices contrasted, 132. 

Christ, Nearness to, and lead- 
ing others to Plim, 276 ; 
Nearness to, Increasing, 
Essential for leading others 
nearer to Him, 277 ; Pre- 
figured by Elisha, 179. 

Christian Character, Damage 


Index. 


to. From the intensity of 
peculiarities. 266 ; Differ- 
ences in, to be tolerated, 
265 ; Two sides of, 263. 

Christian in a state of de- 
clension, Influence of a, 

275 ; Influence of a living, 

276 ; Life, Alike as to fun- 
damentals, unlike in details, 
251 ; Life at home, The, 
262 ; Life, Differences in 
the development of, 249 ; 
Life sometimes to be stim- 
ulated, sometimes repress- 
ed, 252 ; Life, Varying ra- 
pidity of developmerit in 
the, 251 ; Religion, The, 
26 ; Workers adapted to 
different fields, 256 ; Work- 
ers working in different 
ways, 258. 

Christianity flourishes most 
among the lowly, 18 1. 

Christological Controversy, 
60. 

Chronology of the Restora- 
tion, The, 227. 

Church building, The Divine 
method of, 182. 

Civil Service, Nepotism in 
the, 290. 

Come right to Me, 276. 

Conscience, as a guide de- 
stroyed by self blinding, 94 ; 
Searing the, 91. 

Contents, The Table of, 7. 

Co-operative Work, 235. 

Corrupting God’s People, 242. 

Council, of Jerusalem, Ques- 
tion settled by the, 293 ; 
Persia’s Wise Men in, 208. 

Covetousness, the cause of 
Balaam's fall, 81. 

Cowles’ “ Pentateuch,” Quot- 
ed, 57, 66, 70, 72, 75, 85. 

Criticism, Steps of false, 60. 


D. 

Damon and Pythias, 156. 

Da Vinci’s Last Supper, 248. 

David and Jonathan 

First meeting of, 157 ; 
Meeting at the stone sign- 
post, 164 ; David, Lament 
of, for Jonathan, 168 ; Re- 
membered in exile, 164. 

Decay, Signs of alarming, 
18 1. 

Decision in difficult circum- 
stances, Ruth’s, 130. 

Decrees, and seeking salva- 
tion, 31. 

Deems, Dr. C. F., Quoted, 1 5. 

Destinies dependent on tri- 
fles, Irrevocable, 45. 

Destiny, and the dish of 
broth, 46. 

Differences between spirit- 
ual and worldly minds, 44. 

Difficulties in the way of sal- 
vation, increase of, 121 ; 
In the way of sinners, 122; 
Of Jerusalem’s Builders, 
240. 

Discontent, connected with 
others, and their posses- 
sions, 213; Growing in the 
endeavors to remove it, 
214 ; No connection of, 
with what one has or has 
not, 213 ; The evils of, 
209 ; W ould be supreme, 
214. 

Dissimulation and the Re- 
buke, The, 292. 

Divine Purpose as affecting 
Human Responsibility, 
Meddling with, 31. 

Divine Purposes not our 
guide, 37. 

Divisions among good men 
overruled for good, 291. 
Double-minds usually found 


300 


Index. 


at last on the wrong side, 

83. 

Duty, altered, Seeking to 
have, 93 ; Distasteful, com- 
ing to seem not duty, 93. 

E. 

Egyptian Sages, 58. 

Eli’s Mistake, 136. 

Elijah and Elisha 171 

Contrast of the ministries 
of, 174; Seldom united in 
one man, 178 ; Significance 
of the names of, 174 ; The 
age of, 17 1 ; Elijah, and 
John the Baptist, Parallel 
between, 178 ; Discour- 
aged, 179 ; On Mt. Car- 
mel, 175 ; The ministry of 
a modern, 177; Success of, 
Apparent, 185 ; Traits of, 
emphasized in the New 
Testament, 184; Time of 
sowing, His ministry, 177 ; 
Elisha and Christ, 179 ; 
Character of, contrasted 
with Elijah’s, 173; Gentler 
ministry of, 174 ; Home 
and character of, 174 ; 
Living in Joash’s day, 189; 

The modern, 178. 

Endor, The witch of, 153. 

Enthusiasm in rebuilding Je- 
rusalem, 244. 

Esau and Jacob 30 

Esau best at first, Jacob 
at last, 40 ; Deteriorating, 

42 ; Naturally a more lov- 
able character than Jacob, 

39 ; Repentance of, 45 ; 

The modern, a popular 
man, 43. 

Esdraelon, The battle-field 
of, 152. 

Esther, Book of, like the book 
of Ruth, 205 ; Place of, in 
Persian history, 209. 


Excess of Christian activity, 

268. 

Exclusion from Canaan, The, 

72 - 

Excuses for his sins, Saul s, 

148. 

Exodus and the Restoration 
contrasted, The, 244. 

Experience and leading, The 
Ministers, 277. 

Expiation alone opens our 
way to God, 26. 

Ezra and Nehemiah 226 

Chronological relations of, 

227 ; Ezra, Descent of, and 
character, 228 ; Prepara- 
tion of, for his work, 228. 

F. 

Failure at Kadesh, The, 68 ; 
Explained, 71. 

Fair speech and foul life, 76. 

Faith claiming promises, 1 1 1 ; 
Conquering enemies, 106 ; 
Exercising a wise discre- 
tion in the conquest ot 
Canaan, 109 ; Loitering in 
the conquest of Canaan, 
no; Removing mountains, 

100 ; Trained to trust and 
devotion, 109 ; Tried by 
long delays, 108. 

Fall, The law of the Chris- 
tian’s, 65. 

Fallen Teacher, The restora- 
tion of the, 66. 

Farrar’s “ Life and Work of 
St. Paul,” Quoted, 282, 283, 

284, 289, 292, 295. 

Fat, The food of the offering, 

1 6. 

Father’s failure in seeming 
success, A, 186. 

Favorites, Oriental, 209. 

Fidelity, Difficulties of, 132 ; 
Ruth’s, to her convictions, 

128. 


Index. 


301 


Finley, President, Incident in 
the life of, 203. 

Fire from Heaven consuming 
the sacrifices, 13. 

Flatterers, The course of, 202. 

Flattery overcome only by 
religious principle, 200. 

Forsaking all for Christ, 132. 

Foundation work, 233. 

Friendship, Dependent on 
virtue, 161 ; Does not re- 
quire equality in age or 
wealth, 160; Inexplicable 
the grounds of, 1 59 ; Influ- 
ences commonly destruc- 
tive of, 163 ; Observations 
on true, 159; Of David and 
Jonathan, tried by conflict- 
ing interests, 165 ; And 
plain language, 165 ; The 
classic story of, 1 56 ; The 
conditions of, 159; The 
Scripture model of, 1 57 ; 
The trials of, 162 ; The 
triumphs of, 167 ; Truth 
outspoken often rupturing, 
166. 

Froward with the froward, 
89. 

Future, building for the, 233. 


G. 

God, not found in the book 
of Esther, The name of, 
220 ; Working in infinite 
leisure, 57. 

Godly, The line of the, 9. 

Goliath, the challenge of, 158. 

Grace, and dispositions, Di- 
vine, 264 ; And natural fac- 
ulties, 258. 

Grove, in Smith’s Bible Dic- 
tionary, Quoted, 172. 

Guthrie’s Old Testament 
characters, Quoted, 163. 


H. 

Haman and Mordecai 205 

Haman, Absolute power 
of, 210 ; Advancement of, 

209 ; Greatness of, 21 1 ; 

Not happy, 21 1 ; Promo- 
tion of, like Joseph’s, 210. 

Hamilton’s Moses the Man 
of God, referred to, Dr., 55. 

Hanna’s Saul, First King of 
Israel, Quoted, 145, 149 ; 

The Two Sisters, in The 
Sunday Magazine , Quot- 
ed, Dr., 261, 266, 267. 

Hannah, Bringing Samuel, 

137 ; Praying before the 
door of the Tabernacle, 

136. 

Happiness, in obedience, 155. 

Helps of Jerusalem’s build- 
ers, The, 243. 

Hereditary Ingredients in 
Esau and Jacob, 39. 

Herod like Xerxes, 207. 

Heroes of Faith, 97. 

Hindrances in the way of 
Salvation, 132. 

Home, Children and the re- 
ligious, 137; God’s leaders 
and the religious, 51. 

House, Over against one’s 
own, 236. 

Hypocrisy, 80. 


I. 

Idolatry, Spiritual, 126. 

Immortality, The only true, 
28. 

Impatience of God’s plan, 34. 

Imperfect Christians con- 
demned, 39. 

Incident, illustrating undue 
dependence upon another, 
203. 


302 


Index. 


Index, The, Preface, 5. 

Infidelity in two wings, Mod- 
ern, 60. 

Insincerity and self-decep- 
tion, 150. 

Instruments, Fitting, 237. 

Internal, State, and external 
life, 270; Weakness, 240. 

Intrigue against Jerusalem's 
builders, 241. 

Israel, Apostasy of the king- 
dom of, 17 1 ; Seduced, not 
conquered, 76. 


J. 

Jacob and Esau 30 

Bible narrative of, Intense- 
ly interesting and charm- 
ing, 30 ; Jacob, Growing, 

41 ; The modern, repel- 
ling, 43 : Jacobs and Esaus, 
Modern, 43. 

Jehoiada and Joash 189 

Jehoiada, Decay after the 
death of, 195 ; Honored in 
his burial as a king, 194 ; 

Like Obadiah and Daniel, 

192 ; The place and char- 
acter of, 192. 

Jehoshabeath, Character and 
influence of, 191. 

Jehovah, The Man, 12. 

Jephthah and Elijah, 173. 

Jerusalem a work of time, 

The rebuilding of, 226. 

Jezebel, The infamous, 171. 

Joash and Jehoiada 189 

Joash, A passive instru- 
ment in the reform, 197 ; 
Cared for in infancy i 191 ; 
Childhood of, a critical time 
in the kingdom of Judah, 

189; Fall and death of, 

196 ; Like Aaron in want 
of self-reliance, 194; Like 
Moses in his childhood, 


190 ; Reforms of, 193 ; 
Zealous for outside relig- 
ion, 197 ; Joashes, Too 
many, 199. 

Jonathan and David 

Jonathan, A type of Christ, 
170; Enthusiasm of, for 
David, 158; Surrendering 
the throne, 167 ; The 
Friend, 170. 

Joshua and Caleb 

Joshua, A type of Christ, 
107 ; Chosen to succeed 
Moses, 100 ; Earlier refer- 
ences to, 99 ; More promi- 
nent than Caleb in the con- 
quest, 106 ; Through faith 
dividing the land of Ca- 
naan, hi. 

John and Peter 

John, A plea for, 259 ; 
Character of, 248 ; Nature 
of, quiet and contempla- 
tive, 256 ; Not a weak 
character, 256 ; Obscure 
and quiet life of, 257 ; Of 
slower development than 
Peter, 250 ; Special prep- 
aration of, for his work, 
257. 

John the Baptist, and Elijah, 
Parallel between, 178 ; He- 
rod’s oath and, 146. 

Judaizers, The demands of 
the, 292. 

Judas and Balak dealt with 
after a similar manner, 88. 

Judgments, Uncharitable, 
266. 

Juliana of Stolberg, 56. 

K. 

Kindred and companions 
keeping one from Christ, 
132. 

Kitto’s Daily Bible Readings, 
Quoted, 168. 


Index. 


303 


Krummacher’s Elijah the 
Tishbite, Quoted, 174. 


L 

Lange on Genesis, Quoted, 
39 ; On Luke x. 38-42, 
Quoted, 265. 

Law, Reading the, 238. 

Lawyer, The young, and the 
Deed, 47. 

Leaders in the Church, 
Trained in religious homes, 
51 - 

Leadership in the Restora- 
tion, 244. 

Lectures, Time of preparing. 
Preface, 5. 

preparing, Preface, 5. 

Lesson from the failure of 
Moses, The, 71 ; Lessons 
from the lives of Cain and 
Abel, 18-29. 

Life before form, 199; Life, 
not length of years, 28. 

Light, Blinding, 95 ; Reject- 
ed, 94 ; To lead, not to 
drive, 90. 

Line of the godly, 9 ; Of the 
Worldly, 9. 

Lost man, Then I am a, 204. 

Love, The wonderful, 170. 

Lowrie’s Life of David, Quot- 
ed, 159, 162. 


M. 

Mark, The cause of conten- 
tion between Paul and Bar- 
nabas, 288 ; Why rejected 
by Paul, 291. 

Martha and Mary 260 

Appear on three occasions, 

261 ; Contrast of the con- 
duct of, 262 ; Often mis- 
judged, 262 ; Radically dif- 


ferent in disposition, 263 ; 
The spirit .of, must be com- 
mingled, 270 ; Martha, A 
true disciple, 262 ; In the 
day of visitation, 275 ; The 
complainer, and the mes- 
senger, 274 ; The spirit of, 
Danger in excessive indul- 
gence of, 267 ; The spirit 
of, the modern spirit, 267 ; 
Mary complained of, 274 ; 
Defended by Christ, 274 ; 
The spirit of, Danger from, 
268 ; The spirit of, the need 
of the modem Church, 269. 

Master-passions, 36. 

Materialism, 60 ; Denying 
Teleology, 61 ; Downward 
steps of, 61 ; In Mental 
Philosophy is Sensational- 
ism, 60 ; In Morals is Util- 
itarianism, 61 ; In Psychol- 
ogy identifies mind and 
matter, 61 ; Is Atheism, 
61 ; Teaching Relativity, 
61. 

Merchant, The bereaved, 46. 

Methods, Of the builders of 
Jerusalem, 231. 

Michmash, Saul’s first diso- 
bedience at, 143. 

Ministry, Success in the, 188. 

Missions, Natural birth of, in 
Antioch, 285. 

Missionary, Demands on An- 
tioch, 285 ; The Blind, 276 ; 
The first journey, 284. 

Missionaries, The first jour- 
ney of the first, 286. 

Moab, The children of, 75. 

Model Builders, The, 230. 

Modern wall-building, 233. 

Money against life, 217. 


Mordecai and Haman 205 

Mordecai, refusing to bow 
to Haman, 212. 

Moses and Aaron 50 

Before Pharaoh, 58 ; Chil- 


304 


Index. 


dren of a pious house, 5 1 ; 
Differently but fittingly 
trained, 52 ; Parallel of 
Paul and Barnabas with, 

62 ; The end of, 73 ; Moses, 
and William, the Prince of 
Orange, Parallel between, 

56; Dependent upon Aaron 
before Pharaoh, 63 ; Like 
Aaron, fails in his strong- 
est place, 70 ; returning to 
idolatrous Israel, 66 ; The 
training of, in the court of 
Egypt, 53 - 

Mother’s field, The Christian, 

271 ; Real success of, 187. 

Motley’s History of the Dutch 
Republic, Quoted, 56. 

Murderer, The flight of, 22. 

Murmurings at Kadesh, The, 

68 . 

N. 

Names, among the Jews, n ; 

Of antediluvian women, 10. 

Naomi’s desire and purpose 
to return to Judea, 117. 

Nehemiah and Ezra 226 

Nehemiah’s lineage and 
character, 228 ; Prepara- 
tion for his work, 229. 

Nepotism, 290. 

Neutrality Impossible, 80. 

o. 

Oaths, Of Saul and Herod, 

146. 

Offerings, accepted and re- 
jected, 13. 

Opposition to the builders 
of Jerusalem, 240. 

Orpah and Ruth 116 

Orpah, The choice of, 118 ; 

The motive of, 123 ; The 
contact of, with the true 
faith, 123 ; The difficulties 


of, 1 21 ; The people arid 
gods of, 123 ; Went away, 
after going part way, 1 19. 


P. 

Painting, The book of Ruth 
a small and finished, 116. 

Pairs of Characters, A nota- 
ble feature of Scripture Bi- 
ography, Preface, 5. 

Parental influence long dor- 
mant, 56. 

Part way followers of Christ, 

1 19. 

Paul and Barnabas 278 

Compared with Samuel and 
Saul, 278 ; Reconciled, 296 ; 

Paul, Birth and parentage 
of, 278 ; Christian spirit of, 
recognized by Barnabas, 

281 ; Conversion of, in- 
credible to the Church, 

280; Perplexing strait of, 

280 ; Right in the princi- 
ple, in his quarrel with 
Barnabas, 291 ; Under sus- 
picion, 280; Withstanding 
Peter, 295. 

People’s work, The, 235. 

Perplexities of the tyrant- 
trodden, 218. 

Peter and John 247 

Peter, Appearances often 
against, 254 ; At Pentecost, 

249 ; Bold and aggressive, 

256 ; Character of, Oppo- 
site phases of, 252 ; Clear 
views of, of Christ's char- 
acter and mission, 249 ; 
Course of, at Antioch ex- 
plained, 293 ; Disposition 
of, 250 ; Dissimulation of, 
at Antioch, 294 ; Dual nat- 
ure of, 253 ; Early associ- 
ation of, with John, 247; 
Impetuosity of, explains 


Index. 


his contradictions, 253 ; In 
Cornelius’ house, 249 ; Paul 
and John, Succession of, 
250. 

Peters, Characteristics of the 
modem, 258 ; Johns and, 
both needed in the modern 
Church, 259. 

Phelps, Dr. Austin, Quoted, 
. 27 - 

Pictures, The two contrasted, 
217. 

Pleas for sin, Saul’s hollow, 
148. 

Prayer, Efficacy of, Ques- 
tioned, 31. 

Preface, The, 5. 

Presence of the Lord, The, 
? 3 \ 

Principle alone safe in set- 
tling differences, 295. 

Promises, Caleb reminding 
God of his, 1 13; Caleb 
taking, with all conditions, 
God’s, 1 14; Only truly em- 
braced, when the condi- 
tions are accepted, 1 15. 

Prophets, The mission of, 
143 . 

Prophetical and kingly pow- 
ers, The relations of the, 
143 - 

Prostitution of Talents, 81. 

Providence, A history of a 
holy, 36 ; And complicated 
human affairs, 223 ; Illus- 
trated in the book of Es- 
ther, 221 ; Illustrations of 
special, 138 ; In Vashti’s 
deposition, 209 ; Punishing 
Haman, 221 ; Retributive, 
223 ; Rewarding Mordecai, 
225 ; Special and general, 
50 ; Superintending, 220 ; 
Timing events, 221. 

Providential interventions in 
human affairs, 220 ; Pun- 
ishment of Sin, 35. 


Punishment in kind, 24 ; Best 
recognized by the sufferers 
of it, 36. 

Pythias and Damon, 1 56. 

Q. 

Quarrel of Paul and Barna- 
bas, The, 288. 

Quiet home life, The, 262. 

R. 

Rationalistic Criticism, 60. 

Rebecca and Jacob, Im- 
properly defended, 32. 

Recluse’s judgment of the 
active, 272. 

Reform, Esau’s unavailing 
efforts after, 42. 

Reformation ' under Joash, 
The, 193. 

Reliance upon God, 201. 

Religion, Not in zeal for ex- 
ternals, 196 ; Of circum- 
stances, 202 ; Spirit and 
form of, 150. 

Religious Life, Deepening 
the, 237 ; And self-reliance, 
201. 

Religious principle, The safe- 
guard against flattery, 200. 

Remonstrance, The Divine, 
18. 

Responsibility, The Limits of. 
273 - 

Restoration, The Chronology 
of the, 227. 

Retributions in kind, 35 ; Of 
Providence, 223. 

Revenge, Merciless nature 
of, 215. 

Revival, The right place for 
beginning a, 182. 

Ridicule, The power of, 241. 

Robertson’s Elijah, Quoted 
and adapted, 187. 


30 6 


Index. 


Royal power transferred, The, 

141. 

Ruth and Orpah 116 

Ruth, The book of, a small 
but finished picture, 116; 

The choice of, 118; The 
incidents in the opening 
chapter of, 116; The re- 
ward of, 134. 

Ryle’s Expository Thoughts 
on Luke x. 38-42, Quoted, 

269. 

s. 

Sacrifices, Divine origin of, 

15 - 

Saints of Scripture not per- 
fect, The, 33. 

Salvation, only in blood-shed- 
ding, 26. 

Samuel and Saul 136 

Samuel, Giving up the 
government, 142 ; Judge- 
ship of, 138 ; Judgment of, 
on Saul, 149 ; Rebuking 
Saul, 144 ; Severity of, to 
Saul, 144. 

Saul and Samuel, 136; Final 
interview of, 152 ; First 
meeting of, 138 ; First and 
final meeting of, 153 ; Saul 
anointed king, 138; Char- 
acter of, in youth, 140 ; 
Coming to Samuel, Charm- 
ing narrative of his, 1 39 ; 
Consciousness of guilt, of, 

147; Death of on Mt. Gil- 
boa, 155 ; Failure of, as to 
Agag, 149; False repent- 
ance of, 1 51 ; First disobe- 
dience of, 143 ; First sin of, 
Analysis of the, 145 ; Going 
to Endor, 1 53 ; Impatience 
of, leading to his disobedi- 
ence, 145 ; Interview with 
the witch, 153; Irrevoca- 
ble rejection of, 1 5 1 ; Rash 


oath of, 146 ; Second diso- 
bedience, 146. 

Second Thoughts not always 
the best, 93. 

Self-deception, in doing God’s 
work, 1 50. 

Self-reliance, How cultivated, 
53 ; In a religious life, 201. 

Sentence, The solemn, 23. 

Seth’s name, as given by Eve, 
1 2. 

Shambles, The religion of 
the, 27. 

Sicilian Story, The, 157. 

Silence of the Scriptures as 
to the wilderness iourney, 
68 . 

Sin, A crouching wild beast, 
20 ; Consequences of, inev- 
itable, 19; Developing sin, 
27 ; Insidious growth and 
power of, 27 ; Lieth at the 
door, explained, 18 ; Of Is- 
rael at Mt. Sinai a breach 
of the second command- 
ment, 66 ; Of Israel’s lead- 
ers at Kadesh, 69 ; Of 
Moses and Aaron, Conse- 
quences of, 72 ; Punished 
in kind, 35 ; Serves only to 
rule at last, 28 ; Sorrow for 
the consequences of, 25. 

Sins of Bible Saints, not al- 
ways expressly condemned, 
33 - 

Slander and bribery, Haman’s 
tools, 215. 

Smith’s Bible Dictionary, 
Quoted, 99, 230, 232. 

Smith’s Truth in Love, Quot- 
ed, 124, 126. 

Smooth, Keeping things, 294. 

Soldier, The furloughed, 46. 

Song of the Bow, The, 168. 

Spies, Agreement of the, as 
to facts, 104 ; Differ in 
their estimate of the facts, 
104 ; Differ through faith 


Index. 


307 


and unbelief, 104 ; Sent at 
the suggestion of the peo- 
ple, 103 ; Sent through un- 
belief, 103 ; The divided 
report of the, 103 ; The 
mission of the, 103. 

Spirit, Constraining influ- 
ence, on the builders of 
Jerusalem, of the Holy, 
244 ; Grieving the Holy, 
47 ; Inclining the exiles to 
return, 245 ; Presiding over 
the rebuilding of Jerusalem, 
245 ; Tracing the work of 
the Holy, 75. 

Spiritual, growth in quietness, 
182; Influences unavailing, 
85 ; Kingdom, not to be 
judged by external appear- 
ances, 180 ; Quickening, 
239- 

Stanley’s Jewish Church, 
Quoted, 40. 

Stimulation and repression, 
252. 

Success, A father’s apparent, 
186 ; For the teacher, 187 ; 
In doing God’s work, Ap- 
parent and real, 186; In 
the ministry, 188 ; Of a 
mother, 187. 

Supernatural, The real and 
pretended, 59. 


T. 

Teacher’s success, The, 187. 
Temperaments, In Christian 
character, Natural, 252 ; In 
deciding on our work, In- 
fluence of, 270 ; Undue cul- 
tivation of our natural, 266. 
Test of spiritual character, 

44- , . 

Tragedy, The Darkening, 155. 


Trifle, In Esau’s case, The, 
45 ; The choice of the, 46. 

Trifles affecting destiny, Il- 
lustrations of innocent, 47; 
Illustrations of sinful, 47- 
49; Truest exponents of 
the character, 48. 

Truth before peace, 294. 


u. 

Unbelief, Obstinacy of Is- 
rael’s, 105. 

Ungodly alliances, 190. 


V. 

Vanishing Vapor, The, 12. 

Vashti, and Herodias’ daugh- 
ter, Contrast of, 207 ; Put 
away, and why, 208 ; To 
be held in honor, 208. 

Victory of Evil, in Balaam, 
83. 

w. 

Waiting, For God in wonder- 
ful displays, 185 ; For God, 
Sinful, 37 ; On God, 31 ; 
Sin of Rebecca and Jacob 
in not, 32 ; Sometimes 
compulsory, 34. 

Waiting periods in life, and 
their significance, 54. 

Wall-building, 231. 

Weak Points, Knowing our, 
266. 

Weak when strong, 65. 

Weakness of the exiles, 240. 

Well-doing, Acceptance by, 
18. 

Will of God already known. 
The, 38. 


308 


Index. 


William, Prince of Orange, 

55 - 

Witch of Endor, The, 153. 
Women, before the flood, 10; 
The names of antediluvian, 
10. 

* Wonder-works, as tokens of 
Divine Power, 62. 

Worldly, Antediluvians, 9 ; 
Connections, The curse of 
Jehoshaphat's reign, 190 ; 
Methods, In extending the 
kingdom of Christ, 188. 
Work, of the builders of Je- 
rusalem, The, 231. 
Worship, First Place of, 12; 
True and False, Contrast- 
ed, 12. 


X. 

Xerxes, Is Ahasuerus, 205 ; 
Needs money, 216 ; The 
feast of, 206. 

Y. 

Young Man, A mighty good 
kind of a, 201. 

z. 

Zachariah, The death of, 196. 

Zeal, For externals derang- 
ing spiritual work, Joash’s, 
199 ; For externals not re- 
ligion, 196. 









































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